Pick Me Up
by unknownbyhim22
Summary: Picking up a hitch hiker would be considered a bad idea to most, but she needed a favor, and he'd owe her.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! What time is it? Haha. I'm happy to say that summer has officially started for me! Like I promised, here is chapter one to my new story. I hope all of you like it! I won't be updating maybe for two weeks... I want a lot of people to get a chance to read this first chapter, so I'm going to wait a little bit. Enjoy!**

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Pick Me Up

Chapter One

Gabriella had an inkling. There was a crisp smell in the air as the sky grew darker on this early Saturday morning, and even as she drove down the high way, she could tell that rain was coming. That was her inkling. Cars zipped and whirled past her while she pressed a button to close her sun roof so that if it did start to rain, she wouldn't be soaked.

She was on her way to her parents' house. In her opinion, it was in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the center of Tennessee where the only thing you saw for a while was trees and mountain-like landscape.

If asked why she was going, she'd probably give a long worded excuse about being away for so long since she graduated from college, but would avoid reminding herself why she was really going. There was a family reunion at her parents' house and she was the furthest from being excited to go.

There was a reason for her unenthusiastic return home, but she wouldn't tell just anybody. It wasn't something she wanted the whole world to know about.

She quickly made a left hand turn, jumping off of the fast paced high way once she got to the exit she needed to get off at. Once she got further down the road, it turned into a dirt road, calling for a bumpy ride the rest of the way to her parent's house.

The radio crackled and she twisted and turned the knob of the volume to try to get it back to its steady rhythm, but there was no use in trying. She knew that once she was in this area, the luxury of a nice radio station coming in disappeared.

Just as she pressed down on the power button of her stereo to turn it off, a sheet of rain wafted over her car like it had been freed from the clouds above her after a long time being stuck.

"Boy, am I good or what?" Gabriella smirked to herself, turning on her windshield wipers as she looked at the golf ball sized raindrops.

She slowed, knowing that sooner or later, the road that was dry a few minutes ago would be turned into mud within the next couple of minutes. She passed a red barn with a baby blue house next to it, and looked on to see nothing else around it. That's how it was around here. No one lived close to each other around the farming areas, but she liked the space and deserted roads.

She hummed a song that went along with the rain and tapped her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove. She passed a steaming car that was stalled on the side of the road, and noticed that no one was inside or around it any longer.

A good ten minutes later, just as she was picking up her pace, tired of only going twenty-five, she saw a person walking along the road in a grey sweatshirt that was already soaked from the rain. He was walking slowly while trying to stay out of the muddy puddles around him and was carrying a black backpack on his back.

Without a second thought, Gabriella slowed, seeing the man more clearly as she rolled down her window. He was her age, around twenty six, and had shaggy dirty blond hair that was sticking to his forehead from the rain.

"Need a ride?" She called out to him, trying to be heard over the rain as he looked down at the ground. She honked her horn when he didn't seem to notice. He looked at her with a hint of wonder. "A ride. Do you need one?" She asked again.

"I'm going pretty far," he said to her as he stopped walking, staying a good distance away from her car.

"Aren't we all?" Gabriella said with a friendly smile.

"I have no way to repay you. I'm broke and so is my car…" He looked tired even through the rain and she only shrugged.

She was using him already. She needed a favor from him, just like he needed a favor from her, and if he needed a ride bad enough, he'd help her out as well.

"I think we can work out payment," she said to him. "Get in before you get struck by lightening!"

...

The door of her car opened quickly and a shower of rain followed the man who was recently just walking alone on the side of the road. He closed the door behind him and knocked his hood off of his head at the same time, brushing his hair back with his hand.

"Are you sure you can give me a ride? You don't know where I'm going yet," he said, looking at her while she rolled up her window.

She turned to look at him and sucked in a breath when she saw how blue his eyes were.

"Where are you going?" Gabriella asked him.

"Maine," He replied.

"Well, I'll drive you to Maine as long as you do something for me first," Gabriella said, biting her lip to see if he'd take the bait.

"Tell me what you need," he said, nodding surely, as if he was determined to get where he was going even if it meant bull riding in the middle of a pit of rattle snakes.

"For two weeks, I need you to pretend you're my boyfriend."

She felt pathetic even for asking it, but she was desperate to make her stay at her parents' house livable and doing that would require avoiding the boyfriend topic. If she had one, she wouldn't have to talk about _not_ having one.

"Two weeks?" He asked, as if that was the only thing he was worried about. Like he was asked to fake being a girl's boyfriend all of the time.

"Yeah, fourteen days. I know that you probably think I'm psychotic, but my life would be so much easier if you just did this for me… I mean, I know you could probably call someone up to get you or just keep on walking… I don't know, I just thought I'd try…"

"That's fine, I'll do it."

"Really?" Gabriella asked in disbelief. "You've known me for a minute and a half and you'd pretend to be my boyfriend?"  
"Yeah. You've known me for a minute and a half and you still asked me to be your boyfriend. It's obvious you're a good judge of character," he smiled at her, watching as her former look of surprise turned into one of shock, as if she had no idea he'd actually go for it.

"Okay," Gabriella nodded as she pulled away from the side of the road, starting to drive slowly again. "Wow, this could work."

"But you know, I should probably know your name if this is going to work," he said with another smile, seeing how she was trying to figure this all out at once while she drove.

"Oh! Right, sorry. I'm Gabriella Montez. I'd shake your hand, but I wouldn't want to take my hands off of the wheel," she laughed uncomfortably, looking over at him quickly.

"It's nice to meet you Gabriella. I'm Troy Bolton. I'm glad you're a safe driver," he replied, nodding.

She giggled, this time comfortably and nodded at him, seeing that he looked like he was excited for a challenge like this one. She sat less stressfully in her seat and went on with her drive, knowing that they had about twenty minutes to get acquainted.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what's in Maine?" She asked him.

"I don't mind, only if you don't mind me asking why you need me to pretend I'm your boyfriend," he said slyly, smirking at her when she looked at him with her mouth open in uncertainty.

"Uh, well, I'm about to go to the Montez's annual family reunion, where not only does my whole family show up, but so does the entire town. For the past two years, I've had to sit at the kids table and explain to my mother, grandma, and all of my aunts and female cousins why I still don't have a boyfriend. It's definitely not the ideal situation."

"Why don't you? Have a boyfriend I mean," he asked her.

She rolled her neck out of habit, what she did when she was stalling to find the right answer. She glanced over at him, knowing that it took a generous person to help her out like this and he at least deserved to know what she was up to.

"My last boyfriend broke my heart when I was in my first year of college and he had no problem moving on from the relationship. It took me longer than expected, so I haven't dated since. Besides, I really, really want to make him as jealous as humanly possible," she smiled, glad to get her evil scheme off of her chest.

"Well, I'm honored that you've chosen me to help you with that," Troy replied.

"I did go through tons of potential candidates. It really was a tiring process," Gabriella joked, laughing at herself.

Troy smiled, changing positions in his seat, causing the leather to squeak underneath him because of his wet clothes.

"So, why Maine?" Gabriella asked.

"I met a girl a few months ago at my brother's wedding and since then I've fallen in love with her. I decided to find her in Maine and tell her how I feel," Troy explained.

"Ohh, how romantic," Gabriella smiled, her heart fluttering at the thought of a love so strong that it was bringing them together face to face. "You don't mind doing this though, right? I mean, since you're in a relationship."

"I don't know if we can call it a relationship yet, but yeah, I'm okay with it. It's just make-believe," Troy answered.

"You're right. We have nothing to be ashamed of," Gabriella said.

"Absolutely nothing," He agreed.

They looked at the road ahead of them, quieting down for the mean time as if they were both contemplating what they were actually doing. After a few more minutes and a tons more quick questions that would get them through the first meeting at least, they were already pulling up Gabriella's parents' driveway.

Troy looked over at Gabriella once they got out of the car, seeing her sigh as she looked at the large yellow house next to her. They jogged towards the front door, dodging rain puddles as they went.

"Ready?" Gabriella asked Troy with a nervous expression.

"Ready." Troy nodded, holding his hand out for her to take it. After all, they had to make a lovey-dovey impression right away.

Gabriella took it, surprised at how warm it was even after he'd been walking around in the rain for who knows how long. She reached her other hand out, ringing the door bell quickly and waiting for someone to answer it.

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**Like it? Review!**

**Much love, **

**unknownbyhim22**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, Hello! I know I waited two weeks to update, but that was so I could get a good amount of people reading Pick Me Up before I updated it again! Don't worry though, for those of you who haven't read my stories before and seen me update, I update every week. I already have this story written, so its easy to update quickly. For those of you who want longer chapters, I'm sorry, I can't really do much about it anymore, but the chapters after this one get a lot longer. Enjoy!**

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Pick Me Up

Chapter two

Troy and Gabriella looked at each other, both now drenched because of the rain, when no one answered the door. Gabriella let go of Troy's hand so that she could peer into the window on the door, but saw no one coming to greet them. She opened the door, gesturing for Troy to follow her in.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" Gabriella called out, hearing the door shut as Troy stepped in behind her.

"Gabriella?" Her mother's voice came from upstairs and they soon heard her footsteps on the wood floor of the hallway. She gasped, as if she hadn't seen her daughter in years and squealed as she bounded down the staircase. "You're soaking wet, sweetheart! You could have come on in," Mrs. Montez hugged her daughter happily, extending her arms out when they pulled away to get a good look at her.

"We rang the doorbell," Gabriella explained while ringing out her hair on the welcome mat.

"That thing stopped working years ago!" She said, eyeing the watery puddle that was forming on her foyer floor. "Who's this handsome young man?"

Gabriella looked at Troy who was patiently standing off to the side so that he wouldn't interfere with the woman's greeting. He smiled, putting his hand out to shake the older woman's hand as Gabriella introduced the two of them.

"Mom, this is Troy Bolton," Gabriella said, pointing to Troy. "Troy, this is my mom."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Montez," Troy nodded, getting an impressed look from the woman.

"Is this your boyfriend?" She whispered, turning away from him and grabbing her daughter by the arm as she whisked her towards the kitchen.

"Mom, please," Gabriella whispered back, looking behind her at Troy who was busy surveying the large country home.

"I'm sorry, Gabriella, it's just that it's been years since I've seen you bring a man home." Mrs. Montez giggled to herself, giving Gabriella a look that indicated that she thought Troy was definitely attractive.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't embarrass me, ma," Gabriella whispered, turning to look at Troy who was grinning, but looking away from them, pretending he hadn't heard any of their conversation.

"Troy," Mrs. Montez said as she turned her attention to her daughter's boyfriend once they got into the large kitchen that was bordered with white kitchen cabinets and dark wood counter tops. There was a large window that took up the corner of the kitchen that looked out into the backyard. "There's a bathroom up stairs right when you walk up the staircase if you want to change into something dry. You too, Gabriella," she said to them, winking at her daughter as if doing her a favor for giving them some alone time.

"Sure, thanks," Troy smiled, exchanging a look with Gabriella.

"I'll go with you," Gabriella said to him, walking next to him as they escaped the kitchen, hearing Gabriella's mom yell out into the backyard to whomever was out there, telling them that Gabriella was home.

They climbed the stairs without saying much and once Troy saw the bathroom, he made his way there.

"Troy, hey," Gabriella said, touching his arm to stop him from going any further. "I want to thank you again. I know how weird this must be for you. I'm sorry that was a lie, I don't know how weird this is for you. I just know that it's weird for me."

"Has anyone ever told you that you ramble when you're nervous?" Troy asked with a smirk, adjusting his backpack on his shoulder.

"No, do I?" Gabriella asked in a whisper.

Troy nodded, giving her arm a pat.

"Right now I'm fine. Your mom is great and this place is amazing."

"Good," Gabriella said with a relieved sigh. "You have something to change into, right? It doesn't look like you have a lot in that bag."

"Yeah, I got clothes. I'll meet you here when I'm done changing, okay?"

"Sure."

They went in opposite directions after that, Gabriella to her bedroom and Troy to the bathroom. Gabriella closed the door behind her after seeing Troy close the bathroom door as well.

Troy looked around the cute country bathroom before he did anything. There was a bathtub and shower on his right and the sink that was on his left had old fashioned handles for the hot and cold switches. The bathroom was painted a baby blue color and everything else was either black or white. He looked at himself in the mirror, shaking his head as he looked at his tired eyes and wet hair. He really had no idea what he was doing.

Troy was in the hallway first. He had changed into a navy blue t-shirt that wasn't too tight, but showed off enough of his muscles underneath, and a pair of jeans. Gabriella appeared soon after wearing a new pair of jeans and a grey sweat shirt.

"I left the wet cloths hanging in the bathroom," Troy told her, just in case that was a problem.

"That's fine," Gabriella nodded.

They smiled at each other, but said nothing as they went back down stairs to find Mrs. Montez again. When they appeared in the kitchen, a few more bodies had been added to the room and a sprinkle of nervousness went through Gabriella when she saw her dad leaning against the kitchen counter and her brother's ass from behind the refrigerator door.

"Welcome home, Gabi!" Mr. Montez instantly looked happy when he saw his daughter and her brother closed the refrigerator door when he heard his dad's response.

"Hey, Dad, how are you?" She asked as she gave him a side hug, eyeing her brother who tried tossing a grape at her, but missed.

"Better now that you're here," He hugged her back, chucking the grape that his son had thrown, back at him. "Who's this?" He asked, lifting his chin towards Troy.

"Be nice," Mrs. Montez said instantly, swatting her husband with a dish towel.

"I'm Troy Bolton, sir, nice to meet you," Troy answered, glancing over at the younger male by the refrigerator.

"Are you dating my baby girl?" He asked his eyes serious as he looked over at Troy.

"Dad, I'm twenty six, not ten," Gabriella mumbled, loosening from his hug and going towards her brother, ruffling his hair as if he was the one who was ten, when in fact he was just a year younger than her. "And yes, we're dating."

"That's all I wanted to know. That way, I can figure out sleeping arrangements," Mr. Montez sent Troy a warning look and Troy only responded with a clueless look, as if he had no idea what he could _possibly_ mean.

"Sleeping arrangements?" Troy asked, seeing Gabriella's face turn into panic.

"Yup. You'll be in the barn. That way I'll have more time to hear you if you're trying to sneak up into Gabriella's room to do only God knows what."

"Dad!" Gabriella exclaimed, rubbing her forehead as if a serious headache was setting in.

"I'm kidding," Mr. Montez chuckled, looking at his mortified daughter.

"No you're not," Her brother said through a mouth full of fruit, causing Gabriella to shove him playfully. "I'm Brandon, by the way. I will not be your friend." He smiled like he was completely satisfied.

"And all of you wonder why I never bring guys home," Gabriella said to them, walking over to Troy so if they started throwing things, she could at least shield him temporarily. "I'm going to go show Troy where he'll be sleeping."

She took Troy's hand, tugging him with her towards the back door so that she could show him the barn, where he really would be sleeping. The rain had let up for the mean time. That's how it usually acted around here. The rain lasted only briefly before it got sunny again.

"This backyard is amazing," Troy said as he walked onto the large deck with Gabriella. There was a long staircase going down to the lawn and the deck it's self was as long as the back of the house.

"I love it," Gabriella smiled. "It's like one you'd only see in the movies."

"Exactly."

They both skipped down the stairs until they reached the lawn and they sunk into the damp grass as they made their way closer to the medium sized barn in the back of the yard.

"I know that you're probably going to regret ever agreeing to come here with me now that you know you have to sleep in here, but it really isn't that bad. I've had my fair share of sleepovers with my friends in here." Gabriella explained as she slid the doors open, revealing the tall ceiling of the barn.

There was a small stack of hay bales on one side of the barn where a large lawnmower and yard equipment sat also, but other than that, there wasn't anything too interesting in it. Boxes were organized on the other side of the barn and a family portrait of the Montez's hung by the door.

"It's not too shabby," Troy said honestly, looking around curiously as he set his backpack on the stack on hay, which looked like it was positioned for a bed.

"You can actually see my room from that window by the hay, so if you ever need anything, just take this light…" Gabriella walked over to a spotlight that was by the window and smiled when Troy laughed at her, knowing where this was going. "And shine it into my window. Or you could risk being shot by my dad, take your pick."

"I think I'll go with the light," Troy laughed, okay with his sleeping arrangements.

"And I'm sorry about my brother. He's extremely over protective since Kyle."

"Kyle?" Troy asked.

"My ex," Gabriella said.

"Ah, sorry, I never got his name."

"That's okay; we still have a lot of getting to know each other to do."

Gabriella laughed, looking relieved that they had survived the hardest part of the two week stay at her house, and that was the first time meeting with her parents.

"So when does the reunion start?" Troy asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Tomorrow at noon and trust me, if you get through this in one piece, you will have definitely impressed me. I may just buy you a car to take you to Maine yourself."

"I better work hard then," Troy smiled.

Gabriella smiled back, walking towards the doors of the barn.

"Come on, you have a family to get used to."

...

Later that night, Gabriella walked into the upstairs bathroom after already changing into her pajamas. She flicked the light on and grabbed her toothbrush from the holder in the medicine cabinet and squirted toothpaste on it, foaming up her mouth with the minty goop.

She squinted at herself in the mirror, seeing small bags under her eyes since she got little sleep since her trip to her parents' house. Her hair was curly since she had let her hair air dry after her shower and she ran her hand through it after spitting her toothpaste out and rinsing.

"Gabriella, honey, go give these back to Troy. I washed them for him," Mrs. Montez stood in the doorway with Troy's clothes that he left in the bathroom that morning.

"Okay, are you going to bed?" Gabriella asked as she took them from her mom.

"Yeah. I'm beat."

"Alright, I love you." Gabriella smiled as she stepped out of the bathroom and into the hallway, looking through the balcony of the hallway at the front door where the moon could be seen through the foyer windows.

"Troy seems nice," Mrs. Montez said as Gabriella started to go down the stairs. She stopped halfway down them and looked up at her mom who stood at the top.

"He is."

"Quiet too, but still nice."

Gabriella nodded, going down the stairs and slipping into a pair of flip flops before sliding out of the house. She made her way across the yard and knocked on the door of the barn once she reached it.

"It's Gabriella."

The door slid open soon after she knocked and Troy appeared in a white t-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. He looked like he had already tried getting some sleep because his hair was slightly tousled.

"Hey, I was just bringing your clothes back. My mom washed them, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Great, thanks," Troy said, taking the clothes from her.

"Goodnight, Troy," Gabriella said with a smile as she backed away from the barn.

"Night, Gabriella."

"Thanks for being here," she added as he was pushing the door shut again.

"Thanks for picking me up."

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**Review, Review, Review!**

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello! Thanks for the reviews! I didn't get as many as I wanted, but I knew I had to update this week like I promised regardless of how many I got. I'm glad that everyone is liking this story! This chapter is much longer- Enjoy!**

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Pick Me Up

Chapter three

Troy woke up to a knocking on the barn door early the next morning and it took him a few seconds to get awake enough to comprehend what was going on. For sleeping on a bale of hay, he got pretty good sleep, but he assumed it was because he hadn't gotten sleep for a while.

The sun blinded him when he slid the door open, and he was surprised to see Brandon standing impatiently on the other side of the door, a pair of sunglasses perched on the top of his head and a piece of paper in one hand.

"Morning, sunshine. We have a to do list to complete," Brandon said to him, handing over the piece of paper that he had brought before heading away. "Meet me on the driveway in three."

Before Troy had a chance to say anything, Brandon was already halfway to the driveway and there was no point in arguing, or agreeing for that matter. Troy pulled on a pair of shoes and made his way to where he was meeting Brandon.

"The first thing that we have to do is take all of these tables and arrange them in the backyard in an orderly fashion," Brandon said when he saw Troy while he was haling heavy looking tables out of a delivery truck.

"I'm assuming when you say orderly fashion, we should put them exactly where your mom wants them?" Troy said as he picked up a table and balanced it between one arm, picking up another with his other arm.

"You're exactly right, my friend," Brandon said as he too put a table underneath each of his arms, huffing and puffing as he did so.

"I thought you didn't want to be my friend," Troy said as he made his way to the backyard with Brandon.

"Huh?"

"You said you wouldn't be my friend when you first met me," Troy said, squinting at the hot sun.

"You're right. I was just testing to see if you actually listened," he replied.

Troy laughed to himself, not commenting as he set the tables down by the deck stairway. Mrs. Montez was watering the flowers that were on the deck and she waved down at the two men.

"Morning you two! How's the to do list coming?" She asked.

"We're on the first one, mom, it takes time," Brandon said in somewhat of an annoyed voice, whipping sweat off of his forehead.

"You better finish everything this year! Last year you didn't finish in time, do you hear me?" Mrs. Montez called down to her son, her hands on her hips now as she ignored the flowers.

"Loud and clear, mother!" Brandon said. "Where do you want the tables?"

"Just bring them all down here and we'll figure them out later," she said as she turned back to watering the flowers.

"You heard the woman, don't just stand there," Brandon said to Troy, causing him to raise an eyebrow in surprise. "I better not have to keep telling you what to do."

"No need to worry about me," Troy said with a smile, heading back to the driveway.

...

Gabriella looked down from her bedroom window to see her mom putting white table clothes on the many tables around the backyard and towards the back, Troy and Brandon were bringing firewood from the pile by the barn to the fire pit that was by the tall oak tree next to the neighbor's pumpkin patch. Around the currently non-existent fire were logs for people to sit on and a few chairs that they had already set out.

Knowing that her mom would be calling her down anytime soon to help set the tables, Gabriella made her way to the backyard, picking up the group of candles in small white glasses from the kitchen counter before she went outside.

"Mom, did you need these candles yet?" Gabriella called down to her mom, seeing the obvious progress of the backyard since she looked at it when she got up.

"Yeah, bring them down."

Gabriella carefully went down the stairs and set the box of candles on a table that already had a tablecloth on it. She put three candles in a row in the center, and went to the next table.

"I think Brandon's about ready to pass out. Troy's really giving him a run for his money," Mrs. Montez chuckled as she folded an extra table cloth. She stood by Gabriella and they both looked out at Troy and Brandon.

"How long have they been doing your to do list?" Gabriella asked as she went on with putting the candles on the tables, glancing over at the guys.

"Since six this morning," Mrs. Montez answered, causing Gabriella to gasp.

"Mom! People are going to be coming over in an hour and they're going to be dead by the time they're done," Gabriella said in disbelief. "Troy didn't come here to do chores."

"That's not what it seems like," Mrs. Montez said with a smile. "They were done an hour ago and Troy insisted on getting more done and of course Brandon couldn't say no since Troy wasn't."

"I'm telling them to take a shower," Gabriella said.

"Oh no, they're not coming in my clean house all muddy."

"Why would they be muddy?" Gabriella asked.

"Brandon pushed Troy into a mud puddle this morning and Troy had no problem with pushing him back," Mrs. Montez explained, clearly entertained.

Gabriella sighed, going towards her brother and Troy in her bare feet and baby blue sundress. She glared at her brother for being so immature once she saw that they had dry mud all over them from head to toe.

"Brandon, you're a dumb ass," Gabriella said to him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I didn't do anything."

"People are going to be coming over in an hour and mom wants me to hose both of you off before you go inside to take a shower."

"I can hose myself off, Gabriella."

"Brandon, if I give you the hose you will inevitably get me wet, and I'm already dressed and ready to go," Gabriella said as she started to make her way towards the driveway where the hose was connected to the side of the house.

Gabriella made sure to squirt Brandon in the face first before doing anything else and he only threatened to give her a muddy hug that would ruin her outfit and hair. Troy stood chuckling as the siblings fought like they were kids again.

"Don't you have something to say to Troy?" Gabriella asked Brandon when she was done hosing him off and as he was heading for the garage to go inside.

"No, I can't think of anything," Brandon said with an arrogant smile, jumping away quickly when Gabriella sent a high powered squirt of water towards him.

She rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Troy who was waiting patiently to be hosed off so that he could take a shower. Gabriella walked over to him, handing him the hose that was still spilling out water.

"I trust that you won't get me wet," She said as he took the hose from her. "I'm sorry that my brother is an idiot."

"He's just testing me. Seeing if I'll react to him," Troy explained. "Luckily it takes a lot for me to react."

"Well, I'm glad you have such self control," Gabriella smiled, laughing at his mud covered body. "I'll see you in a few."

"See you in a few," Troy agreed, starting to hose himself off after Gabriella started to walk away to help Mrs. Montez again.

...

"Mom, where's the phone? It's ringing!" Gabriella called as she ran around the downstairs, doing last minute things around the house.

"Gabriella, I have no idea where the phone is."

Gabriella slid around the house, going towards the foyer where the ringing was getting louder. She picked up the pace and just as she was about to turn the corner to the dinning room, she ran right into Troy. His smell was mesmerizing as her face hit his muscular chest and his arm instinctively went around her just in case she was going to fall backwards from their collision.

"Sorry!" Gabriella said quickly, rubbing her nose.

"I found the phone," Troy said, wiggling the phone in his hand so that she saw it. She took it, pressing the call button before doing anything else.

"Montez residence, Gabriella speaking, how may I help you?" she asked, realizing that she was still in a hugging position with Troy. She cleared her throat, glancing at him when she stepped out of his arms. "No, Uncle Bobby, we don't need you to pick up anymore beer. My dad got it all," Gabriella rolled her eyes as she listened to her uncle on the other end of the conversation. "See you in five minutes, don't be late, you know what happened last time."

She hung up the phone and looked at Troy who had a smile on his face as he listened to her talk. She was just about to say something to him when she heard a knock on the window by the door.

She opened the door, seeing a few of her cousins and aunts and uncles standing on the porch.

"Hey, guys!" She said with a smile.

"What took you so long?" A dark haired woman asked, juggling a bowl of fruit salad in her arms, one that looked like it could feed an army. "We've been standing here for five minutes."

"Sorry Aunt Karen, the doorbell is broken," Gabriella said, taking the wine bottle that was tucked under her arm.

"Still? It was last time!" She handed the fruit bowl to Troy and wiggled her sweater off of her shoulders, handing it to Gabriella who had an amused look on her face, as if waiting for her aunt to notice a new face. "Is this your boyfriend?" She asked once she was settled and her family was in behind her. "Your mother called me last night and told me about him."

"This is Troy, Aunt Karen," Gabriella smiled, taking the sweaters and jackets from the rest of her family.

"Troy, you're adorably attractive, you'll fit right it," Karen said, winking at Gabriella before she went to find Gabriella's mom.

"Gabriella, you look stunning as usual," said a burly man who was wearing a Boston Red Socks hat and a navy blue t-shirt. He hugged her, picking her up when he did.

"Thanks Uncle Ken."

He shook Troy's free hand and gave him an apologetic smile.

"Excuse my wife. She likes anything younger than she is." His comment had Gabriella and Troy both laughing and the kids handing Gabriella their things rolling their eyes, as if they heard it all of the time.

When Ken went to find his wife, rather, go anywhere she wasn't, Gabriella hugged her cousins, exchanging quick compliments before they were off to the backyard and the next batch of relatives came through the door.

Troy was coming back from bringing a tray of cheese, another bottle of wine, and an oddly shaped bowl to the kitchen when there was another knock on the door. Gabriella flung the pile of coats in her arms onto the stairway to leave for later and opened the door, wiping her hot forehead in the process.

"Gabriella," said a voice from the porch, one that had snootiness woven in it.

"Serena."

Troy looked over Gabriella's shoulder once he was back from the kitchen and raised his eyebrows at the woman who was dressed in a revealing black dress. She was Gabriella's age and her eyebrows were raised as she gave Gabriella the once over.

"You look… cute."

"So do you," Gabriella forced a smile and Troy stepped back, wondering if a fist fight might take place. The woman named Serena stepped into the house, her black high heels clicking on the wood floor. She had nothing with her and Gabriella looked at her as if she expected to get nothing from her. "Everyone's in the back."

Troy and Gabriella watched as she walked down the hall towards the kitchen, swaying her hips as if she assumed she was being watched and Troy's scrunched face showed Gabriella he wasn't too impressed.

"That was weird," Troy said to her once Serena was out of view. "She looked like she'd enjoy killing you."

"Well, that's Serena for you. The family devil," Gabriella whispered the last comment because there could be listeners anywhere in the house.

"Ouch," Troy said just as another set of people made their way up the porch.

"Gabriella, honey, take him, he's about to throw up," said a woman holding a baby that was dressed in jean overalls.

"I think I'd better take him," Troy said, taking the gurgling baby from the woman who was pregnant with another kid and holding two baby bags in the other hand.

Even though she didn't know Troy, she handed over the baby anyways, relieved to have a free hand.

"Will you put these in the bathroom later? I'll need them sooner than later," she said, handing the baby bags over to Gabriella, who set them down on the stairs.

"Sure thing. Where's Uncle Mike?"

"Here!" said a muffled voice. They turned to see a pair of legs and a compacted baby pen. The face of the person who was apparently Uncle Mike was blocked by the things that he was carrying. Troy handed Gabriella the baby and jogged over to Mike to help him with his things.

"Is that Troy?" the woman asked. "Your mother told me about him. He's cute."

"I think my mom told everyone, Aunt Theresa."

She gave Gabriella an amused smile and took the baby from her as Mike and Troy hauled the baby stuff to the kitchen where others were there to help take it to the backyard. Troy came back to the foyer where Gabriella was piling more coats on the stairs as a few more people came into the house.

"Hey, Ben," Gabriella said to the little boy who was hiding behind his mom's leg, who was Gabriella's Aunt Rebecca. "How are you?"

The blond boy said nothing, but clung onto his mom's arm tighter, as if he wasn't up for socializing at all. Gabriella smiled and took the chocolate cake from her arms as she gave her a stressed look.

"Is Uncle Matt coming?" Gabriella asked.

"Nah, sweetheart, he's working tonight. Couldn't get out of it," Rebecca said, picking up Ben as she went to the kitchen, ready to move on from the foyer since more people were arriving.

Troy had just brought a pumpkin into the kitchen, along with a pumpkin pie from the neighbors next door when Gabriella was shutting the front door.

"Is that everyone?" Troy asked her.

"For now. People from town are coming in later," Gabriella said, looking at the mountain of coats that had piled up on the stairs. "Do you want to help me take the coats in my room?"

"Yeah, it'll take you all night if I don't," Troy laughed, grabbing a bear hug sized pile in his arms, chuckling as he and Gabriella tripped up the stairs.

They tossed the coats on Gabriella's bed and Troy looked around the room once he had no coats blocking his view. She had a twin sized bed since the room was probably the smallest in the upstairs and there were a few things here and there, but for the most part it didn't have much in it, probably because she had moved out a long time ago.

"Whoa, don't tell me you're a doctor," Troy said when he saw the stethoscope on the dresser, along with a hospital ID.

"Not quit. I'm a traveling ER nurse. I go where they need me. I'm currently working in Utah," Gabriella explained. "Come on, we have a few more coats to get."

"How many places have you gone?" Troy asked as they made their third trip from the stairs to her room.

"All fifty states. I've stayed in places for as little as twenty four hours for as long as a few years. It's really exciting, I wouldn't trade my job for anything," Gabriella smiled as she set her last armful of coats on her bed and looked over at Troy who was clearly impressed by her traveling job.

"That's amazing," he said with a smile.

"What do you do?" Gabriella asked. "I should probably know just incase someone asks."

"I'm a traveling sales person for Nike," Troy said with a smirk.

"Are you serious?" Gabriella asked in surprise.

"Nah, I'm lying. I just thought I'd sound as cool as you," he laughed when she swatted his arm and she shook her head, giving him a playful look.

"No, seriously, what do you do?"

"I'm a gym teacher at the high school I used to go to. I'm also a basketball coach for their basketball team. We're state champions this year," Troy answered with a proud smile.

"And what state is that?" Gabriella asked.

"New Mexico… Albuquerque, New Mexico."

"I worked at Albuquerque General Hospital! We could have crossed paths before," Gabriella said in excitement.

"I think I'd remember you if we did," Troy smirked, looking out the window at the backyard that looked like it was being mobbed by a million people. "How many cousins do you have?" Troy asked out of curiosity.

"Thirty-eight. Forty if you count the ones on the way," Gabriella said. "Fourteen aunts and uncles if you don't count their spouses, four grandparents, one great grandma, and a couple dozen dogs between all of us."

"I'm just going to say this now. I'm not going to remember all of their names," Troy said in amazement.

"I would never expect you to," Gabriella smiled, looking at the backyard also.

"You know who hasn't come yet?" Troy asked Gabriella as they went down the stairs side by side.

"Who?" Gabriella laughed, wondering how he would notice.

"Your Uncle Bobby, the one on the phone."

"You're right. He's going to have to wash all of the dishes tonight."

"No way, that's the punishment for being the last one here?" Troy asked with a laugh, letting Gabriella walk in front of him when they walked down the narrow hallway to the kitchen.

"Yup, he's gotten it three years in a row. To be honest, I think he purposely does it so that he gets out of talking to people," Gabriella said, opening the back door of the house, stepping onto the deck.

"I'm glad I was humanly incapable of being the last one here," Troy replied, shaking his head at the thought of washing all of the plates of at least seventy two family members, more if you count the neighbors and friends.

"Took you long enough," Brandon said when he saw his sister and new boyfriend. He was poking at a grill full of hotdogs and hamburgers while looking out at the backyard of people. He didn't look happy that he was stuck looking after the meat instead of hanging out with his cousins and friends.

"Stop whining, Brandon," Gabriella sighed. "I'm sure no one wants to talk to you anyways."

"Ha. Ha. I just peed my pants because you're so funny," Brandon said in a monotone, stabbing a hotdog.

"If you want, I can look after the food while you talk to everyone. I don't mind," Troy said to him, seeing Gabriella smile from the corner of his eye.

"No, that's fine. I'll get verbally abused by all of my uncles if I don't think standing her poking dead cows is an honor," he said with a sigh, slurping down a long drink of beer.

"God, Brandon, that's how you ruin a person's appetite!" Gabriella said with a shake of her head, clearly done with her brother's sore attitude because she headed for the stairs instantly.

"You're a baby, Gabriella."

"You're the real baby, little bro," Gabriella shouted at him as Troy appeared at her side laughing at the two of them. "That was nice of you to offer to take over his job," she said to Troy. "I'm sure he appreciated it way deep down inside of his cold heart."

"Well, I just so happen to be a champion griller," Troy joked, putting a hand to his chest as if truly believing it.

"I'm sure," Gabriella laughed, stopping once they got to the lawn, hugging one of her cousins who had just run up to her.

"Gabriella, two hundred and three more days until I'm officially a doctor!" said the girl, Bethany, Troy thought. She had black rimmed glasses and when they were first introduced, Gabriella made sure he knew she was the family brains.

"I'm so proud of you, Beth. You've worked so hard," Gabriella smiled as her cousin kept on arm around her, ready to catch up.

"If your boyfriend doesn't mind, I'll show you my chemistry test I aced," she said with a smile, directing her attention to Troy who smiled as a response.

"You don't have to ask me," Troy said, smiling still.

"Are you sure you'll be okay without me? You might get lost," Gabriella seemed serious about this possibility, but Troy didn't seem worried.

"If we can't find each other, just say Marco until you hear Polo."

The two girls laughed as they walked away from him, glancing back a few times, as if they were having a conversation about him. Troy put his hands in his jean pockets and walked around until someone stopped to talk to him.

"Troy, dear," Karen tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around to face her.

"Karen, right?" he said.

"Very good. Usually it takes new guys a few years to remember everyone."

"Well, you're unforgettable," Troy smirked, knowing that she was pleased to be flirted with by a guy half her age.

"I came to ask you something. Don't feel obligated to help, but we need an adult to sit at the kid's table. Someone needs to supervise them because they can get a little rambunctious when they're all together. Unfortunately, I was asked to chaperone, and I'm hoping to pass off my job to someone else."

"Sure, no problem. The kids table is always the fun table."

"Whatever you say," she said with a laugh, patting him on the arm and walking away to talk to someone else now that her dirty work was done.

"Hey, Troy, come and talk to my grandma for a little bit," Mrs. Montez said with a smile, taking his arm the second she saw him without anyone to talk to.

"Sure."

"How's the day going for you so far? I know this can be a lot to take, but don't be too scared by my family. We aren't as bad as we seem."

"Oh no, everyone seems really nice. You have a really big family, Mrs. Montez, it must be nice to have so many people related to you," Troy said honestly.

"It has its ups and downs," Mrs. Montez smiled, stopping once they came to the chair that her grandma was sitting in. "Grandma, Troy's here to talk with you."

"You don't have to recruit people to talk to me, Jane. I know that I'm everyone's last option."

"Of course not, Victoria. I was looking to talk to you, I just couldn't find you," Troy said as he sat down next to her. She was older than the land they were sitting on, but it didn't seem like a problem. She was partially deaf in one ear, and everyone thought she was crazy, but she had a few years left in her.

"Troy, honey, you're whipped," Victoria said with a smile, causing Mrs. Montez to walk away with a shake of her head. Troy could only laugh at her terminology.

"Maybe," Troy smiled, leaning into the comfortable fold up chair.

"So you're dating, Gabriella, right?"

"Yeah, I am."

"I may be ninety five, Troy, but I'm no dummy."

"What do you mean?" Troy asked her, seeing that not too many people were around them, so if she knew about his secret with Gabriella, only a few people could hear her scold him about it.

"You looked more like her best friend than anything else when you were helping her by the front door. You need to hold her hand more, or run your hand through her hair! At least show some PDA," she told him, looking at him seriously.

"PDA?"

"Public display of affection. Oh, dear God, do I have to keep everyone updated on the latest lingo? I have a hundred years of slang in this head of mine!"

"I don't think Gabriella would like it if I was all over her around her family," Troy said to her

"Exactly. You don't think she would. I know she would."

The smile on the old woman's face made Troy nervous. It was obvious that she knew a lot more than everyone gave her credit for. He smiled back, looking around the yard at the people around him, wondering if he might catch a glimpse of Gabriella somewhere.

"Go find her, Troy. And give her a big smooch on the lips for me," she waved him away with a glitter of hope in her eyes and he patted her on the shoulder before he left her sitting at the table.

He was weaving through talking groups of kids and adults when he noticed Ben, the shy kid from earlier that day sitting by himself on the driveway. He had a backpack with him that looked to be packed with things to do and Troy suddenly had a twinge of a heartfelt feeling when he saw him.

"Excuse me," Troy said to one of Gabriella's cousins who he had to bump into to get through the group.

He looked around once to see if Gabriella was around, but decided that she probably was doing fine. The boy, on the other hand, didn't seem too happy.

* * *

**Like it? Review!**

**Much love, **

**unknownbyhim22**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone! It's been a crazy week and I'm surprised I got this chapter up in time, but here it is. Enjoy!**

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Pick Me Up

Chapter four

Troy stopped once he got to the driveway, not wanting to startle the kid if he suddenly appeared. He followed the kids gaze and noticed that a basketball was stuck between the house and the basketball hoop, which was bolted to the front of the garage.

"Do you want me to get that down for you, bud?" Troy asked him.

Ben looked over at him and shrugged, standing up and moving his backpack away from the driveway.

"I'm not tall enough," he said to him when he walked away from his bag and over to Troy.

"That's okay, if you want me to pick you up, you can just grab it. How does that sound?"

Ben nodded, and let Troy lift him above his head. He smiled shortly when his hands finally touched the basketball and he pushed it through the hoop instead of carrying it down with him.

"Do you have anyone to play with? I can if you don't," Troy said, watching as Ben grabbed the basketball and started to bounce it.

"Your name's Troy, right?" He asked him, stopping the ball so he could look at him.

"Yeah, that's my name."

"My dad is working."

"Was he supposed to play basketball with you today?" Troy asked as he sat down on the driveway once Ben did, already giving up with the basketball. Troy took the basketball and set it in his lap.

"Yeah. I don't know if he'd want me to play with you."

"I understand. We can just sit here if you want."

He nodded, and Troy took the basketball and set it on the driveway, rolling it around for something to do. The sound of kids playing in the backyard could be heard and Troy wondered if Ben had asked anyone to play with him, or if everyone just told him no. Without thinking, Troy began to spin the basketball on the tip of a single finger, watching the black strips disappear as it picked up speed.

"How'd you do that?" Ben asked in amazement, suddenly up from sitting on the pavement. "Can you teach me?"

"Sure," Troy stood up too and handed him the ball, happy to see him excited about something. "It's kind of hard though."

"That's okay, I'll learn."

...

"…He teaches basketball too, Mom, can you believe it, I mean, I want to do that one day!" Ben was jumping up and down in the kitchen once he and Troy were done washing their hands for dinner.

Ben's mom was nodding and awing as she listened to her son's excited ramble about Troy. Troy only stood wiping his hands off with a smile. The basketball that they had been playing with was on the kitchen floor where it was put after Ben showed her that he learned how to spin it on one finger.

The backdoor opened and Gabriella appeared with a lighter that she had used to light all of the candles outside. She looked surprised when Ben wrapped his arms around her legs as if she was his favorite person on earth.

"I love your boyfriend, Gabriella. He's the best," he said before grabbing the basketball from the floor and running outside to show his cousins what he could now do.

"What was that?" Gabriella asked in shock, looking at her aunt and then over to Troy.

"Troy's his new hero," Rebecca said. Her face told Gabriella that she was happy about this. In fact, Gabriella hadn't seen her that happy in a long time. Rebecca scooped the bowl of fruit salad off of the counter and headed for the back door. "I don't think he's ever talked so much," she said with a dreamy smile.

Gabriella waited until Rebecca closed the door behind her before going over to Troy who leaned against the counter looking satisfied.

"What'd you do to become his hero?"

"I played basketball with him," Troy said simply, shrugging. "He just wanted someone to give him attention."

"Thanks for that. Aunt Rebecca has been really worried about him lately. He's been quiet."

"It was fun. I actually have to sit at the kids table, so I thought it would be wise to make a friend so I'd have someone to sit next to," Troy chuckled at himself, knowing that that sounded pretty pathetic.

"Who swapped kids table duty with you?" Gabriella asked in surprise, assuming that Troy wouldn't want to sit with a bunch of kids, especially ones he didn't know.

"Your Aunt Karen."

Gabriella shook her head, going over to the sink to wash her hands. She looked over her shoulder at Troy and smiled when he saw her.

"I heard you were talking to my great grandma," Gabriella said as she shook her hands in the sink to get extra water off of them. Troy tossed her the dish towel he was just using.

"Yeah, she told me to give you a big smooch for her. She said we don't act like boyfriend and girlfriend enough."

"I wonder why," Gabriella smirked, setting the towel on the counter. "Come on, we have to get the food before its cold. We get first pick since you're a new guest."

"Oh, so now I know why you needed me here. You wanted to be first in line," Troy joked, opening the door for her and taking her hand once they got to the deck. "Victoria is going to have a fit if we come down without holding hands," he explained when she looked over at him curiously.

...

"Troy, will you pass the salt?" shouted a ten year old boy who was on the other side of the round kids table, which was a table's length away from the adults and by the temporary dance floor that Troy and Brandon set up that morning. A few strings of white lights went from tree to tree and since it was darker out now, they were on.

"What do you say?" The girl who sat next to him elbowed him as she said it and he shoved her as a response.

"Please."

Troy smiled and passed the salt shaker to Ben, who passed it to his cousin Katie who was sitting next to him, and she passed it to her brother Tim, and so on. They had been doing this routine since they sat down to eat. Someone would need something on the opposite side of the table and instead of throwing it, like most of them wanted to do, Troy had to come up with an alternative way to pass things around.

Luckily, he persuaded the kids not to sing while doing it.

"Did everyone eat their fruit?" A motherly voice asked. Troy turned around and saw Mrs. Montez coming towards the table. Each kid shoved a random piece of food in their mouth and said yes at the same time. "Oh, wow! You all did!"

Their plates were technically fruitless, but Troy's was suspiciously full of fruit. Mrs. Montez, however, didn't notice. Ben giggled quietly and Troy couldn't help but let out a short chuckle himself while putting a strawberry in his mouth.

"Troy got them to eat their fruit!" Mrs. Montez called to the adults, so excited about her discovery.

The adults applauded and the kids laughed together, a few at a time glancing over at Troy who would give them all the same look. One that told them they'd get caught if they kept giggling.

"You truly are amazing, Troy," Mrs. Montez smiled, leaving them be so that she could go talk to the people sitting at her table.

"Why are you so amazing?" Gabriella asked as her mom left. She stood behind Ben's chair and looked at all of her young cousins before looking at Troy.

"You didn't hear the fruit announcement?" Troy asked with a smile.

"I must have missed it," Gabriella answered.

"Hey, Gabriella, you should dance with Troy!" Katie, her twelve year old cousin said with a smile. "There's a slow song on!"

The rest of the kids cheered and threw in their 'yeahs' and 'do its' while she shook her head. She laughed when she noticed the adults turning to see what the commotion was about. It always took a brave person, or a drunken one, to start the dancing.

"I can't dance and you all know that," Gabriella said to them, exchanging looks with a few of them to try to stop them from cheering her on.

Troy stood up, holding his hand out with a prince-charming smile. The kids quieted down, as if waiting to see what she would do.

"Luckily for you, I can," Troy said. "Come on, it won't be that bad. Besides, if I stay I'll have to eat more fruit."

The kids laughed, some of them squealing in excitement when Gabriella took his hand.

"Okay."

The adults watched Gabriella and Troy walk hand in hand towards the dance floor, seeing them exchange a few whispers as they did. Karen went for the radio, switching it to a new slow song that they could dance to and the rest of the adults smiled and whispered amongst themselves.

"I've never dance at a family reunion," Gabriella admitted once they made their way to the middle of the dance floor.

"Well, I'm glad to be dancing with you for the first time."

Gabriella nodded, smiling up at him before stepping closer to him, feeling butterflies in her stomach as he put one hand on the small of her back. She leaned against him, stepping with him since she had no idea how to slow dance.

He rested his chin against the side of her head, inhaling the scent of her hair as he did. Her hand fit perfectly in his, and he couldn't help but notice how the hand she was resting on his chest was tapping lightly to the beat of the music.

A few more couples added onto the dance floor, along with Mr. and Mrs. Montez and her Aunt Karen and Uncle Ken, who still had his baseball hat on even though it was dark out. When Mr. Montez made eye contact with Troy he nodded his approval, but still gave him a look that made it clear that he didn't want to see Troy's hands traveling anywhere but where they were.

Gabriella's eyes fluttered shut shortly when she heard him humming to the song, and she was surprised to hear that he was humming well.

"Don't tell me you can sing too," Gabriella said to him, moving her head off of his shoulder to look up at him. His eyes met with hers as he smiled as she noticed again how blue his eyes were.

"I was in the high school choir, but don't tell anyone."

"That's kind of sexy. You know if I was into the choir geek kind of guy." She put an arm around his neck while they continued to talk and he couldn't help but run his hand over her smooth arm.

"Well, I think it's kind of sexy that you lied and said you couldn't dance," Troy said to her.

"I didn't lie," Gabriella insisted.

"I'm dipping you," he said suddenly and she bent one of her legs so that she'd go down gracefully and a few people around them "oohed" and "awed" as she came back up.

"Done like a pro," Troy smirked.

"I might have had a few dance classes here and there," she laughed, breathing deeply from the sudden up and down motion.

He was just about to say something else when he saw her face freeze in what looked like panic and fear all at the same time. He turned her around so that she wasn't facing the way she was when her expression changed and he looked around to see what she had seen.

"What's wrong?" Troy asked her with a confused look on his face.

"He's here," Gabriella whispered to him, her palm sweating in his hand now.

"Who?" Troy asked as he looked around.

"Kyle."

Troy's heartbeat quickened too as he looked around the yard to see if he could spot someone who wasn't there before. After a few more seconds of looking, he saw a guy his age in a black t-shirt with a beer in his hand. He looked like one of those people you'd slowly grow to hate if he was a character in a movie.

"The guy in black?" Troy asked, glancing down at Gabriella once he looked away from him.

"Yeah, that's him."

"He looks like he walked out of a magazine," Troy said honestly.

"Tell me about it," Gabriella groaned, setting her forehead against his chest, wishing that when she looked up and when the song was over, he'd somehow disappear.

"Let the games begin," Troy said as he kissed the top of her head, hoping that Kyle saw it.

* * *

**Like it? Review!**

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone! Thanks for all of the reviews! I got a great response for the last chapter! And man, you guys are puu-shy when it comes to getting Troy and Gabriella together! You know me by now, right? They get together in all of my stories... I just don't like to rush it. If I had them kissing in chapter one they'd look creepy! haha **

**For those of you who are new to my stories I just want to say that I update once a week (It's looking like it'll be every Sunday my time) so there's no need to worry or tell me to update soon! :) I'll update regularly, I promise. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Pick Me Up

Chapter five

Gabriella and Troy insisted on clearing the many tables in the backyard after their dance so that they could look like they were so busy that they hadn't seen Kyle at all. Gabriella's Uncle Bobby had just shown up and even though he was okay with getting dish duty for another year, Gabriella and Troy made sure they would do it.

Troy jogged up the stairs with a pile of plates and turned once he got to the top, noticing that Gabriella was no longer following him. His eyes grew wider when he saw that she had been stopped at the bottom of the stairs by Kyle.

"Gabriella, hey," Kyle said with a smile, stopping Gabriella before she had a chance to escape up the stairs.

"Oh, hey Kyle. I didn't see you there, how are you?" she asked him with a carefree wave of her hair as if it was in her face, although it really wasn't in her way at all.

"I'm doing great, what about you? Do you need any help with those plates?" He asked, ready to set his beer down on the step to help her.

"No, no, I'm okay. I have help," she smiled.

He nodded, not saying anything when he saw a guy his age coming down the steps, one who had her attention right away.

"Hey, babe, I got those," Troy said with a smile, taking the plates from her, purposely making no eye contact with Kyle.

"Thanks, hon," Gabriella said as she cleared her throat. Troy started making his way back up the stairs, but turned around when he was only half way up.

"Don't make me carry you up here, Gabriella. I know you'll do anything to get out of this, but we lost the coin toss," Troy said with a smirk, jogging the rest of the way up.

"Coin toss?" Kyle asked.

"Oh, yeah, Troy and I got pulled into doing a coin toss with Uncle Bobby to see who would do the dishes. We lost." Gabriella nodded and took her foot off of the first step. "Well, I have more plates to get, so I'll talk to you later," she said before turning around and going towards the tables. When she was turned towards the tables she could feel his eyes on her and even when she turned around, he was still watching her while talking to her neighbor with the pumpkin patch.

...

Gabriella closed the door behind her when she got in the kitchen and stood with her back pressed up against it as she caught her breath. Troy took the plates and glasses from her and set them on the counter by the sink where he had already started getting it filled with hot soapy water.

"Just take deep breaths," Troy said as he pulled her over to the sink, seeing that she was clearly panicked.

"What the hell are we doing?" Gabriella said suddenly, brushing her hair away from her eyes with a stressed look on her face.

"We're washing the dishes," Troy told her, smiling as he handed her a dish towel to dry them once he washed them.

"We're never going to pull this off, I'm just sorry that I dragged you into a two week stay here just so I could make someone jealous. I mean, who does that? Me I guess. I do crazy ass things like this and don't think about other people…"

"Gabriella, you're ranting again," Troy said, but she wasn't paying attention to him, she was just spitting out the words that were running around in her head.

The back door could be heard opening even as Gabriella went on to her next issues and ranted about them. Troy looked around quickly for something to get Gabriella to stop talking because the person walking through the door would most likely hear something she said.

"Gab—" Troy stopped trying to say something to get her to be quiet and instead pulled her against him and kissed her right on the lips. The dish towel that she was holding on to loosened from her grip and fell onto the counter as she put that hand on his arm, pulling away from him before she had a chance to tell herself to kiss him back.

"Gross, Gabriella! Now I have no appetite to eat freaking cake!" Brandon said as he whipped the back door open again after seeing his sister kissing Troy in the kitchen.

Gabriella didn't yell a comment back at him. She pick up the dish towel that she had dropped and looked down at the counter, wondering if she should look up at Troy after his clever plan to get her to be quiet.

Troy handed her a clean dish and she took that moment to look up at him. He smiled and went back to concentrating on the dishes.

"Sorry," Gabriella said quietly, looking out the window in front of them that looked out into the backyard.

"You ramble when you're nervous. That's all," Troy said with a shrug.

After a few more dishes were passed Gabriella's way, Troy looked up from the sudsy water and noticed that she was still just staring at the plates that she was drying. She looked sadder now compared to when she first saw Kyle. Although when she first saw him she looked like she'd throw up.

"Can I ask you something?" Troy asked when he passed her another plate.

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Why doesn't your family hate Kyle? I mean, your relationship obviously ended badly, so shouldn't they be giving him the evil eye until he knows to leave?"

Gabriella smiled softly as she set the dry plate in the cabinet by her head. She grabbed a wine glass next and looked over at Troy to see him waiting for an answer.

"I told them that I ended it," Gabriella said. "Because of a conflict of interest."

"You didn't actually end it?"

"No, he did," Gabriella nodded. "He broke my heart in the process and made me feel like everything was my fault."

"So no one knows the truth about it?" Troy asked, setting a few forks on the counter to be dried.

"You do," Gabriella smiled. "And Brandon. I don't know if you noticed, but Brandon won't so much as look at Kyle. He gets in trouble all of the time by my parents because they think he's being rude, but he doesn't care about that."

"I'd do the same thing if I were him," Troy told her, looking out of the kitchen window in front of him to see if he could spot Brandon somewhere in the backyard. He couldn't, but looked out anyways to watch her family below.

"Thanks for going along with it outside," Gabriella said.

"Hey, no problem. That hair flip you did out there when you were talking to him was a nice touch. Probably made him wish he was with you," Troy smiled.

"What hair flip?" Gabriella asked innocently.

"What hair flip?" Troy said sarcastically, throwing his head back to laugh jokingly. "You make me laugh."

Gabriella giggled loudly, bumping Troy shoulder to shoulder as her way of saying she knew exactly what he was talking about. He looked at her, glad to see her happier now that it was just the two of them. He pulled her into a side hug that she returned with a smile and they continued doing dishes until an hour had passed and it was time for desert.

...

Troy and Gabriella walked down the stairs of the deck hand in hand after Gabriella had changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She was wearing Troy's grey zip up hoodie that he had left in the house earlier after Troy insisted that it'd surely make people know that she was his.

Gabriella took a bite of the Popsicle she had grabbed before coming outside and she ruffled Ben's hair as he ran up the stairs in the opposite direction.

"Do you want a bite?" Gabriella asked Troy as they walked towards the fire pit.

"You don't have any germs, do you?" Troy asked with a smile.

"Now is that anything to say to your girlfriend?" Gabriella laughed as Troy took the hand the Popsicle was in and pulled it towards him to take a bite of it.

"Mmmh tastes good."

"I knew you'd think so."

When they got to the fire, it was already being used to make smores for the kids and Bethany had seats saved on the best log that was away from the smoke for the two of them. She waved them over and Gabriella hugged her excitedly when she sat down with Troy.

"Doesn't this remind you of old times?" Bethany sighed, linking her arm with Gabriella's.

"Of course. I don't know how many times we sat out here and talked about boys for hours while eat smores," Gabriella giggled when Bethany looked over at Troy who was already in a conversation with their Uncle Mike. Troy was telling him that he'd help him put all of the baby stuff back in the car, even if it did take all night.

"He's _so_ cute," Bethany squealed, causing Gabriella to do the same out of habit.

"I'm glad you think Troy's cute Bethany," Gabriella said loudly on purpose, just so Troy could hear. Bethany swatted at Gabriella who only laughed as Troy smirked, setting his arm on her leg while still talking to Mike.

"Kids, don't wave the marshmallow around! You could get serious third degree burns!" Bethany got up from the log, walking over to a few of her cousins who were carelessly whacking around flaming marshmallows.

Gabriella laughed, smiling as Bethany helped them put the smores together with out getting hurt. Troy put his arm around Gabriella and she leaned into him, setting her head on his shoulder.

"What'd I miss?"

"Bethany's just sharing her knowledge on third degree burns to the little ones," Gabriella answered, smiling as Bethany came back and sat down with a sigh.

"Kids these days. They just don't understand danger," Bethany said to the two of them, smiling when she saw Gabriella comfortably resting her head against Troy.

"Speaking of danger, I haven't seen Serena around lately. Did she escape somewhere to sneak a cigarette?" Gabriella asked.

"You know, I understand why Serena does a lot of things, she does most things to get attention, but smoking is one thing I can't grasp. I've shown my sister the lung cancer pamphlets that I have and she still won't stop," Bethany said with an irritated shake of her head.

"Wait, Serena is your sister?" Troy butted in, shocked that they were from the same gene pool.

"Unfortunately," Bethany nodded. "My mom must have drunk a few too many glasses of wine when she was pregnant with that girl, let me tell you."

"That's really hard to believe," Troy said.

"Well, thank you, I'm glad I don't resemble her," Bethany smiled.

"Hey, Troy!" Troy turned to see Brandon coming over to him with a few chairs tucked under his arms. "We need to start putting the chairs in the garage. The second half of our to do list is just about to start."

"Do you have to now, Brandon?" Bethany asked. "We were just starting a nice conversation.

"Yes, Bethany, we have to start. Unless you want to lug all off these across the backyard with us, I wouldn't complain," Brandon said with a playful smile, handing Troy some chairs.

"Fine, you win," Bethany said, going back to talking to Gabriella.

"I always do somehow," Brandon said to Troy as they started their walk to the garage.

"So how much more is on this to do list for tonight?" Troy asked as he adjusted the chairs so that he could hold onto them better.

"For now, we just have to put the chairs and tables away. Everyone usually piles into the house when it gets a lot later so these won't be used for much longer," Brandon answered. After a few seconds of silence, Brandon spoke again. "You and Gabriella seem to get along well."

"We do. I'm sorry you had to witness our kiss in the kitchen," Troy laughed.

"Hey, don't remind me. I haven't eaten my cake yet," Brandon said with a laugh as well. "Just don't hurt her, okay? I'll have to kill you."

"I'm not planning on it," Troy reassured him. "You don't have to worry about me."

Once they got to the driveway they could hear the family in the back cracking up all at once, like someone had made a funny joke and suddenly everyone was getting what it meant. Troy and Brandon walked to the garage and stopped suddenly when they saw what was inside leaning up against the car.

"Serena! What the hell?" Brandon let go of the chairs that were underneath his arms and let them crash to the ground as he marched forward angrily.

Troy stood with his mouth open in shock as he saw Serena and Kyle separate from their heated make out session against the Montez's car. Brandon walked towards them quickly and pushed Kyle away from his cousin, clearly not happy.

"Kyle, so help me God, if you're not gone in two seconds I'll knock you unconscious and bury you alive in that pumpkin patch! Do you fucking hear me?" Brandon said to him, seeing the sly smirk on his face grow as he sauntered out of the garage, almost looking satisfied when he saw Troy standing there also.

"No harm done, Brandon," Kyle said as he backed away. "I'm not dating your sister anymore," he laughed as he picked up his pace, seeing Brandon redden with anger.

When Troy looked at Serena she was smiling an evil smile before pulling a cigarette out from her bra.

"Serena, what the hell," Brandon said as he snatched the garbage from her hand. "Get out of this house and do us all a favor and never come back again."

"Geez, cuz, is that any way to speak to family?" Serena asked as she started to leave the garage, smirking at Troy.

"You're not family, Serena. There's no way in hell," Brandon said as he kicked a lone beer can that most likely once belonged to Kyle towards her, hoping it'd hit her. It didn't, and he breathed deeply as he walked back to his chairs, picking them up and throwing them angrily into the garage on a pile.

"Brandon…" Troy shook his head, not sure what to say as he set the chairs down in the pile.

"Keep this between you and me, okay? I don't want Gabriella to know about that," Brandon said, turning to leave to gather more chairs.

* * *

**Like it? Review!**

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey everyone! Sorry I didn't update on Sunday, I was Up North and wasn't home until late last night. I saw that a lot of people were reading all of my stories while I was away and favoriting them, so thanks so much to all of you who continue to read my stories! Enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Pick Me Up

Chapter six

Gabriella and Bethany walked with their arms linked away from the fire after having smores, and they trailed towards Troy and Brandon who were now folding the tables up and taking them to the garage. They were both helping each other carrying one table when the girls got to them.

"Do you want us to help you?" Bethany asked. "We felt bad for leaving you two to do all of the work."

"Nah, forget about it," Brandon said as he and Troy picked up their pace towards the garage, causing the girls to exchange a look.

"But a few minutes ago you were complaining about having to do this," Bethany said as she and Gabriella ran along side them. Bethany tapped Brandon on the shoulder so he'd know she was there. He did, before she even tapped him.

"Shit, Bethany, just leave us alone," Brandon said as he stopped suddenly, making Troy accidentally drop his side of the table. He picked it up again, glancing at Brandon who had a guilty look on his face now that Bethany looked offended.

"Brandon, that was rude," Gabriella said in a quiet voice, standing next to Bethany with a frown.

"I know," Brandon sighed, running his free hand over his face. "I'm sorry, I'm just tired," he explained. "Why don't you fold the tablecloths… you both know what my idea of folding is."

Bethany and Gabriella turned without giving him an answer, but headed towards the pile of tablecloths on the lawn. Troy started walking again once Brandon did and they leaned the table against the side of the garage, knowing that the pick up truck would be getting them the next morning.

"You shouldn't beat yourself up over it," Troy said to Brandon, both of them stopping to talk about it now that the girls were occupied in the backyard.

"No, I should. It's my fault that Kyle's still hanging around. I didn't beat the crap out of him when he hurt Gabriella the first time and now he's coming around as if he never knew her at all," Brandon explained.

"What do you mean by 'first time'? They only dated once, right?" Troy asked, straightening out the tables so he had something to do while talking.

"He hurts her just by being here," Brandon clarified. "Look, I'm sorry that we're even talking about this, I know that you're dating her and are probably not too worried about her past relationships."

"It's fine. Gabriella told me about him anyways. We don't have many secrets from each other."

"Good, and believe me when I say this, I made the mistake of not protecting my sister the first time around, don't think I'll let the opportunity pass to take revenge out the second time around."

"I think I'll sleep with one eye open tonight," Troy said with a laugh, starting to walk back to the backyard.

"You should."

...

"It's the blue jacket with the white pin!" Gabriella called up the stairs at Troy who was in her room, looking through the pile of coats for Victoria's jacket since she was about to leave.

Troy put his hands on his hips, looking at the pile with defeat in his eyes. How the heck did Gabriella expect him to pick the right one? She should be the one shifting through the tons of jackets.

Seeing a glitter of something white, Troy stuck his hand in the center of the pile and pulled out the coat he touched first. Thankfully, it was the right one. He walked over to the balcony that looked down at the front door and dropped it down to Gabriella who thanked him with a smile.

"Troy, I need mine too," he heard, looking further over the banister to see Bethany tilting her head up to see him. "Mine's the purple one."

Troy went back into Gabriella's room, picking up three purple coats that he saw right away and then another that had fallen on the floor. He went back to the end of the top of the stairs and held them up to show her.

"Which one?"

"That one," Bethany said, pointing to the sweater that was in his left hand. He let go of it, hearing her giggle as she swerved to catch it. "Thanks, Troy, I'll see you again soon."

"Bye, Bethany, it was nice meeting you. Oh, wait," Troy said, stopping her before she could go out of the front door. "I saw Serena smoking a cigarette today. She stashes them in her bra."

Bethany looked at him in surprise and shook her head at his tattle tale.

"No way! I wondered where she kept them. Thanks for telling me, I'll raid her bra drawer when I get home," Bethany waved at him before escaping through the front door before any of her family members pulled her aside to talk which would inevitably turn into another hour at the Montez's house.

Troy grabbed a few other coats when Gabriella came back into the foyer with her Uncle Mike and Aunt Theresa. He tossed them down to her when she made eye contact with him.

"Do you still need help with the baby stuff?" Troy asked him.

"No, I was able to get everything back in the way it came. Thanks though, it was nice to meet you," Mike said.

"You too, Mike, have fun on your vacation."

"He will," Theresa smiled, giving her husband a nudge so he'd go out the front door without starting a whole new conversation about water skiing and beaches.

...

The Montez's immediate family sat sprawled out on the family room furniture and floor once all of the guests had gone. Mrs. Montez's arm draped over her eyes as she lay with her feet propped up on the coffee table as she sat on the couch. Mr. Montez was next to her with the TV remote in his hand, but hadn't found the energy to turn the TV on. Gabriella sat in the love seat as she tried to get herself to go to her room. Brandon sat leaning against the love seat while sitting on the floor, relaxing his arms after just getting inside from lugging in and putting away everything that was once set up in the backyard.

"Every year I wonder why I put myself through this hassle," Mrs. Montez said finally, looking at her now cluttered house and tired family.

"You do it because you love it," Mr. Montez said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, and because you make me do everything that requires lifting, therefore the Montez family reunion isn't as hard on you," Brandon complained, swatting Gabriella when she knocked him on the head.

"Touché, son," Mrs. Montez said with a childish show of her tongue to indicate that she wasn't pleased with his addition.

"Has anyone seen Troy?" Gabriella asked as she forced herself up from the comfy chair. "I should probably see if he ran away."

"Stop, he loved the family," Mrs. Montez said, smiling softly.

"At least most of them," Brandon grumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabriella asked her brother.

"Nothing, he's in the barn," Brandon said without hesitation.

Gabriella nodded and went towards the kitchen, zipping up Troy's sweatshirt that she was still wearing before heading outside with a pair of old flip flops on her feet. It was chillier outside now that it was well into the night and even though it was dark without the party lights on, she could make her way to the barn across the yard.

She came up to the barn to see that the door was already open and she walked quietly to it, seeing Troy pulling on a clean shirt once she was there. She cleared her throat to let him know that he now had an audience and he turned around, smiling when he saw her.

"Marco," Gabriella laughed.

"Polo," he grinned

"Do you want to go for a walk?"

He smiled with a quiet chuckle.

"Sure."

They started their walk off quietly just as they were walking out of the yard and down the driveway. There were no neighbors to see or driving by cars as they started to walk down the street, enjoying the quietness of the night.

"I've never been on a walk at two in the morning," Troy told her.

"That's the best time to go," Gabriella smiled, looking over at him, noticing how his face was shadowed slightly from the way the moon was placed in the sky.

"So you've done this before?"

"Once or twice," Gabriella said. "It's a good way to clear your head without any interruptions."

"I see."

They walked another few steps before saying anything. They were past the long pumpkin patch of the neighbor's house before they started a new conversation. There was a good space between them, but it was small enough to be able to see each other clearly.

"My family loved you," Gabriella said. "Usually someone has something bad to say about new people at family reunions, but I didn't hear anything."

"I guess we pulled the plan off then," Troy said.

"For now. My family will be in and out of our house for the next two weeks before everyone has to go home officially," Gabriella explained. "I'm sorry that you have to wait that long until you can go to Maine."

"It's fine. I'm just glad that my car broke down here and you picked me up. Otherwise I would have had to walk the rest of the way and it would have taken me a lot longer than two weeks to get there."

"What's her name? I mean, the girl you're going to see?" Gabriella asked out of curiosity.

"Caitlyn," he answered with a soft smile.

"She won't be mad that you're pretending to be my boyfriend, right? I mean, after all you did kiss me in the kitchen."

"She's not that kind of person," he explained. "And besides, I had to kiss you or else you would have blown your cover."

"Ha-ha," Gabriella said sarcastically.

"I'll tell her everything once I see her," Troy said. "I'm sure she'll find it humorous."

"Or pathetic," Gabriella said. "Sorry that I'm pathetic, fake boyfriend."

"You're not pathetic, fake girlfriend. You've just had a rough dating past."

"And you would know about my dating past how?" Gabriella asked with a smile.

"You told me when we first met, remember?"

"Oh, of course, how could I have forgotten?" Gabriella asked.

"And I could kind of tell that Kyle was an ass the second I saw him," Troy added surely, causing Gabriella to look at him in surprise.

"Well, thanks a lot," Gabriella laughed shortly.

"It's not like you wanted to date him again, do you?" Troy asked, secretly holding his breath as he waited for her answer, hoping that she didn't want anything to do with Kyle.

"I guess not," Gabriella said with a shrug. "But I can't help but think that if we did, it would make life a whole lot easier. My family likes him, he's successful, and we have a past…"

"Your brother doesn't like him though… and you don't necessarily have a good past," Troy said, putting his hands in his pockets as he looked at him while walking.

"I guess it's just hard to let go of your first love," Gabriella said with a sigh.

Troy nodded, understanding partly about why she would still want to be with Kyle. But even as he walked with her side by side, he couldn't understand how she couldn't see that her former boyfriend was fooling around with her cousin… that is if when he saw them together was their first time being together, or if it was an ongoing occurrence.

"Enough about me," Gabriella said. "You know the reason why I need you here, you've met my entire family, and all I know about you is that you're off to Maine to find your true love and that you're a teacher. Tell me more about yourself."

Troy smiled shortly, looking over at Gabriella who was now looking back at him. She had her hands in the pockets of the sweater she borrowed from him and her hair was falling loosely over her shoulders.

"There's not much to tell," Troy answered.

"Oh, come on; tell me about your brother, do you have a best friend?"

"My brother is older than me, he got married last year and I haven't seen much of him since. My best friend's name is Chad Danforth and he just so happens to play for the Lakers. That's about it."

"That's all there is about you? Granted, having a superstar best friend is impressive, but there's nothing else to tell me to help me get a better idea of who my boyfriend is? Did I make the mistake of choosing a serial killer for my fake date?" Gabriella laughed softly as Troy looked over at her with an amused smile.

"You talk a lot," Troy commented.

"Don't change the subject," Gabriella said, pointing at him with a wag of her finger to tell him that she was serious.

Troy kicked a rock so that it flew in front of him and he stepped over a pot hole that was caved in on the dirt road. There were crickets somewhere close to him, but he could only hear them as Gabriella walked quietly next to him as they passed another house.

"I couldn't tell you who my cousins are," Troy said to her, seeing from the corner of his eye that she had looked over at him to study him while he talked. "I don't know if I have aunts or uncles… never had a grandparent."

"So… you have a small family?" Gabriella guessed, already feeling bad for making him talk to her about himself.

"It's always just been me and my brother Jake," Troy answered. "Our parents were killed in a car accident when we were too little to know what was going on. We had different foster parents for what seemed like every five years until we were old enough to be on our own… people adopt babies, not three and five year olds," Troy added. "At least not together."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked," Gabriella said guiltily.

"Don't be sorry. After all, you're my girlfriend for the next twelve days, so you mine as well get to know me," Troy smiled.

"Troy," Gabriella said after a minute of silence.

"Yeah?"

"For not having a family, you sure know how to be a part of one," Gabriella told him, making sure he knew that he didn't seem any different around a large group of loving family members just because he never had one before.

"Thanks," Troy smiled, stopping when Gabriella did.

"We should head back," she said quietly. "My dad wouldn't be happy to find us gone."

"Okay," Troy said with a nod, turning around to start heading back to her house, but only after Gabriella linked her arm with his, making sure he knew she appreciated him being there.

* * *

**Like it? Review!**

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all of the reviews! I'm glad everyone is liking the story! I hope everyone went and saw Charlie St. Cloud! Zac Efron once again proved that he really is the hottest man alive... I've been having such a Zac Efron craving that I watched all three HSM movies in a row last night! That was definitly the highlight of my summer (which would also prove that my summer has been so boring) but anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

Pick Me Up

Chapter seven

Gabriella woke up to the next morning to clanking and clashing downstairs. The sound of something being mixed in the blender had her pulling a pillow over her ears to block out the sound. The curtains in front of her window were already pulled open and the window was open half way, letting in a cool breeze. She assumed that someone had already come in to try to get her to wake up, but she had been up late and slept like a rock until now.

After pulling on a pair of pants, and covering her tanned legs and flower patterned underwear, Gabriella shuffled out of her room in a wrinkled t-shirt and jeans. Her curls were tangled together; she only brushed her teeth before going downstairs, not bothering to get herself dolled up.

The stairs creaked under her feet and the front door was open to let the sunlight into the foyer. She made her way down the hallway towards the kitchen and when she got there, she saw that the kitchen table was set and the rest of the family, including Troy, were making breakfast.

"Why didn't anyone wake me? I could have helped," Gabriella said while walking towards the kitchen island, sitting down at one of the bar stools.

"We figured you needed your sleep after yesterday," Mr. Montez said, sliding over a large glass that was filled with a fruit smoothie, she smiled, taking a sip from it.

Gabriella looked over at Troy who sent her a good morning smile when he caught her gaze. He was keeping an eye on the sausage sizzling in the pan on the stove and Mrs. Montez was next to him, stirring the eggs around until they formed into edible chunks.

"Aunt Tina called and invited you kids out for a boat ride today, Gabriella. Bethany will be there," Mrs. Montez said as she took the pan off of the stove and over to the table where she set it down in the middle.

"Who else is going?" Gabriella asked her mom, taking a seat at the kitchen table as everyone gathered around and put food on their plates. Troy was seated next to her, their elbows touched as they passed and scooped up food.

Mrs. Montez eyed her, knowing what she was asking.

"Serena is going too," Mrs. Montez said, passing Mr. Montez a bowl of fruit. "Don't be cynical about it, Gabriella. You need to get out of this house anyways. Serena isn't a bad person. She just doesn't make the best of decisions."

Troy looked over at Brandon who reacted with an eye roll. Brandon looked over at Gabriella who looked over at him with the same expression on her face. She popped a piece of fruit in her mouth and shook her head.

"What makes a bad person then, mom, if someone making bad decisions doesn't qualify?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah, explain that to us, mother," Brandon said, on his sister's side about this topic, and this topic only.

"Oh, stop now," Mrs. Montez said to Brandon, not appreciating being ganged up on. "A bad person is someone who cheats and deceives people…"

Troy took a drink of his orange juice, looking over at Brandon again, trying not to chuckle at the accuracy of those words with describing Serena. Brandon huffed and shook his head again, knowing that Troy was thinking the same thing he was.

"Also, someone who lies, definitely to their family," Mrs. Montez finished, causing Gabriella's fork to remain hovered over her food. "I know that Serena isn't the kind to lie, if anything, she's too honest."

Troy glanced over at Gabriella and saw the deep breath she took as her mother continued eating her meal. Gabriella's face grew sad and her posture changed from straight to slouch in only a few short seconds as she thought about what her mom said. Troy nudged her arm and exchanged a look with her, trying to figure out what she was thinking.

"You know, I'm not really hungry," Gabriella said as she stood up, walking quickly away from the table and down the hallway. The rest of the family sitting at the table watched her leave, and Mr. and Mrs. Montez looked confused.

"She can't possibly hate Serena that much, can she?" Mr. Montez asked his wife, ignoring Brandon's comment about how anything is possible.

"Excuse me," Troy said as he stood up, pushing in his chair and going in the direction Gabriella went in.

Troy jogged up the stairs and made his way to Gabriella's room, wondering if she was more upset about having to spend her day with Serena or hearing the characteristics of a bad person according to her mom.

When Troy approached Gabriella's room, he saw that she was shifting through her dresser drawers, tossing out different colored bathing suits onto her bed. A beach bag was open next to the bathing suits and Gabriella didn't seem worried about throwing anything directly into it.

"What's up?" Troy asked as he leaned against the door frame.

"I don't have a bathing suit," Gabriella said to him, tossing a few more skimpy looking tops and bottoms of mismatched suits out of her drawer.

"No, I mean, what's with the quick escape?"

Gabriella closed the drawer she had been shifting through and sat down on her bed, taking out a towel from the beach bag and refolding it. Once it was tightly rolled up, she put it back, trying to find matching bathing suits.

"I'm a liar," she said with a shake of her head. Troy walked over to her desk chair and sat on it backwards so that his chest rested on the back and his arms folded around the back so that he faced her.

"No you're not," Troy said to her.

"Troy," Gabriella said somewhat angrily, stopping her frantic searching to look at him. "I picked you up from the freaking side of the road and brought you here to trick my whole family into thinking we're the perfect pair and to make my ex boyfriend jealous. What would I be considered?"

"A clever thinker?" Troy said unsurely.

"What happens if we're caught?" Gabriella asked Troy. "My mom will never forgive me. I never thought of that when I brought you here."

"Don't think so much about it," Troy said. "No one is going to hear anything from me."

"You're not who I'm worried about," Gabriella admitted.

"Don't psych yourself out, Gabriella," Troy said as he stood up from the chair and grabbed two parts of a bathing suit. A match.

"Here's a bathing suit," he said, smirking when she grabbed it out of his hands.

"You just had to pick the skimpiest one, didn't you?" Gabriella asked with a small laugh.

"Hey, it came out of your drawer," Troy chuckled, scurrying out of the room when he heard Mr. Montez's voice coming up the stairs and when Gabriella threw the bathing suit at him.

...

Brandon and Troy were waiting on the driveway for Gabriella. They were both in bathing suit bottoms and t-shirts and they were leaning against Brandon's car with sunglasses pulled over their eyes.

"At this rate, we're going to get there at sun set," Brandon said in annoyance as he looked at his water proof watch. His black sunglasses covered his eyes, but Troy guessed he had followed his statement with an eye roll.

"I don't get how it takes women so long to get ready. Especially since the only thing Gabriella has to put on is a bathing suit," Troy agreed.

The door leading into the garage was heard closing and Gabriella appeared with an unhappy look on her face. Her flip flops smacked against her feet as she walked towards the car. She was wearing beige shorts and a white shawl type sweater that revealed her toned stomach and baby blue bathing suit top, but kept her shoulders and back covered. She had a beige sunhat on that flopped around her head.

"Bethany's not coming," Gabriella stated while yanking the backseat car door open. "Mom and Aunt Tina are staging an intervention."

"For what?" Brandon asked as he got into the driver's seat, pulling out of the driveway once Troy shut the door.

"They want Serena and me to settle our differences once and for all. Mom didn't like that I didn't talk to Serena at the reunion," Gabriella answered, pulling her hat off and throwing it to the side.

Brandon adjusted the rearview mirror so that he could see Gabriella and he sighed, knowing that she wasn't happy.

"We don't have to go," Brandon said, causing Gabriella to raise her eyebrows.

"Yeah, and where are we going to go for the rest of the day in bathing suits?" Gabriella asked.

"To Timbers Lake," Brandon answered.

"We haven't gone there since high school, it probably reeks of pollution."

"Do you have any other suggestions?" Brandon asked in annoyance. "It's either the possibly smelly lake or an expensive yacht with Serena."

"The lake it is."

...

There was no sound other than the sound of the wind in the trees and the summer birds when they got out of the car. The parking lot was empty and the occasional grill was scattered around the lot. Since housing was built around the lake, this area was strictly a private area, but since Brandon and Gabriella knew a few people around the lake, they were allowed to come.

They made their way towards the beach area, and the guys carried the various towels and chairs they had brought with them. A cooler was the only thing Gabriella was carrying, and it was filled with what she assumed was beer and Coca Cola.

"It looks the same," Brandon said once they got to the water. He dropped what was in his arms on the ground, not bothering to organize it in any way.

"Yeah, if you ignore the houses," Gabriella agreed, seeing the houses that were tucked away at the lake's edge. They were all partially covered by trees, but the docks that protruded from the land hinted that they were all there.

"You don't see lakes like these in Albuquerque," Troy said as he flicked his flip flops off.

"Is that where you're from?" Brandon asked as he pulled his sunglasses over his eyes and grabbed a foam football from a bag.

"Yup," Troy said, carelessly pulling his shirt off.

Gabriella did a double take when she saw Troy's tanned, toned chest and she quickly wiped her lips with her sleeve as if she had gotten dirt or sand on them, but she was just making sure she wasn't drooling. She bit the inside of her cheek and grabbed a towel and a bottle of suntan lotion from her bag.

"I'll be on the dock," Gabriella announced, dragging herself away from the hotness that was Troy. Brandon and Troy jumped into the water, and before long, they were tossing the football back and forth while Gabriella stripped down to her bathing suit and laid on her towel to get her day's worth of sun.

Gabriella's eyes were squinted underneath her sunglasses and she could feel the heat of the sun already browning her skin. Her protective chap stick was drying up on her lips and she quickly applied more before the sun had a chance to turn her smooth lips into burnt ones.

She was aware of her brother and Troy a short ways from her and she noticed that they were getting along well as she heard them laughing and shouting at each other about the game they were playing. Gabriella rolled over on her stomach when she was getting tired of keeping her eyes shut.

"Psst, Gabriella."

Her eyes opened slowly when she heard a voice coming from the water and she leaned on her elbows and looked down at the water to see Kyle treading water in front of her. Her heart pounded, and he only smiled.

"What are you doing here?" Gabriella asked in a whisper, checking behind her to see that her brother and Troy were still playing catch.

He chuckled, flicking water from his hair with one quick shake of his head.

"I live over there," he said, pointing over to a house that had a shiny speed boat parked by a dock. The house that the dock belonged to was medium sized, but the whole back was almost completely overwhelmed by windows. It was definitely a sight to see—it was definitely expensive.

"Since when?"

"Since this year. I figured since I had the money to get a house, I'd move out of the apartment," he explained, smiling at her. He seemed to be surprisingly happy to see her, but she wasn't sure she was okay with that. "What brings you here? I see you're taking a day out for the guys."

"Yeah, it was kind of a spur of the moment kind of thing. We wanted to take a trip out here since we haven't been around for a while."

"Do you remember when we all came out here for the Fourth of July after graduation?"

"How could I forget?" Gabriella asked with a laugh. "You nearly killed me when you swung off of the rope by the giant tree and whacked me in the head with your foot."

"I gave you CPR afterwards, didn't I?" He laughed, smiling at the memory.

"I didn't need CPR."

"You could have fooled me," he replied, chuckling when she shook her head. She perched her chin on her arms that were crossed in front of her and looked down at him.

"Gabriella, who are you talking to?" Brandon called over to her. Gabriella's eyes widened and Kyle submerged under water and disappeared as Gabriella sat up, turning towards her brother.

"There was a baby turtle!" Gabriella lied.

"Don't you know that animals can't understand you, Gabs?" Brandon teased her, throwing the football at her. She screeched and caught the ball before it hit her in the head and stood up, throwing it back at him. "Get off your butt and get in the water!"

"I'll be there in a second."

Gabriella casually turned around and kicked her flip flops off, glancing over at the house with the windows. From where she stood she could see Kyle pulling himself up onto the dock and walking towards his house without a care in the world.

She walked onto the beach, and then made her way into the water. She plugged her nose and slipped underwater to get her hair wet, and then, after wiping her face dry of water with her hands, she joined Troy and Brandon.

"Do you two have suntan lotion on?" Gabriella asked, throwing the football over to Troy.

"Would you stop worrying, Gabs, I don't want to hear mom's voice at all during our get away."

"I do not sound like mom," she said, catching the ball when Brandon threw it over to her.

"What ever you say," Brandon replied, causing Gabriella to chuck the ball at him harshly, hitting him in the shoulder.

"Watch it, sis, or you'll be going under."

Gabriella laughed, picking up the football when it floated on top of the water after she missed it. The conversation slowly turned to something different; the weather, then sports, and even though the day wasn't how they expected it to be, Gabriella was having fun.

...

Troy, Gabriella, and Brandon were all sitting on their own towels, all of them dry after stopping their game a few hours ago. They were laughing and telling stories while eating junk food and drinking pop. Gabriella had put her shawl back on, but the guys were still just in their bathing suits.

The sky was darker now that the afternoon was setting in, and even though they could have easily gone home, they decided to live off of what they brought for a few more hours until they absolutely had to go home.

"Oh yeah, Gabriella would have fake weddings in the backyard all of the time! By the time she was in high school, she was already looking at wedding dresses," Brandon ignored Gabriella as she pelted him with Cheetos, and Troy laughed loudly as Gabriella whined for Brandon to stop talking about her childhood.

"Every girl does that, not just me!" Gabriella explained. "Just like you pretended you were a spy when you were little."

"Ah, I did that too, man," Troy laughed, taking a sip of pop.

"See, we all pretended to be someone we weren't when we were younger. I'm not that weird," Gabriella said, throwing another orange puff at her brother when he gave her a look that indicated that he thought otherwise.

"My sister-in-law got her wedding dress from Italy," Troy said since they were talking about Gabriella's obsession with weddings.

"No way!" Gabriella's eyes twinkled with excitement and surprise. "It must have been so expensive."

"My brother said they spent half their budget on that dress, so that's why they ended up having a small wedding," Troy answered.

"Was her dress pretty?" Gabriella asked.

"I guess."

"You guess?" Gabriella asked in shock. "She spent tons of money on a dress and you're not sure if it was pretty or not?"

"She's my brother's wife? Am I supposed to think she's pretty?" Troy asked, unsure. Brandon chuckled, shaking his head.

"You just had to bring up the dress, didn't you?" Brandon asked.

"I had no idea what I was getting myself into," Troy laughed, seeing Gabriella start to day dream slightly.

"I can't even imagine what kind of dress I'm going to wear," Gabriella sighed, knowing that this conversation was one she should be having with one of her friends, rather than her brother and fake boyfriend.

"Well, this is when I leave and let you two awkwardly talk about marriage," Brandon said. "I'm going to the car; do either of you need anything?"

"No, we're good." Troy said with a smile, looking over at Gabriella when Brandon left them alone. "So, you're a hopeless romantic and wedding fanatic, huh?"

"You could say that," Gabriella smirked. She stood up, grabbing Troy's hand to pull him up with her. "Let's walk."

Troy and Gabriella made their way towards the dock, holding hands since they knew they had shown little affection towards each other since they got there, and if they didn't want Brandon to get suspicious, they had to start now. They sat at the edge of the dock, swishing their feet in the water and stayed silent for a few minutes.

"What did you and Kyle talk about?" Troy asked.

Gabriella's mouth fell open and she looked over at Troy quickly, wondering how he could have possibly saw Kyle earlier that day. He only shrugged, leaning back on his hands, so that Gabriella had to look back to see him.

"You saw him?" Gabriella asked, looking out at the water that was reflecting the orange and red of the afternoon sun.

"Briefly," Troy answered. "How'd he find you here?"

"He lives in that house over there," Gabriella said, pointing to the house across the lake. "I didn't know that, though."

"Are you sure you didn't know that?" Troy asked, causing Gabriella to look over at him. She looked somewhat offended that he thought she was lying.

"Yes, I'm sure. I wouldn't have come if I had known I was going to see him."

"But you do want him to see us together to make him jealous, right? After all, that's one of the reason's I'm here."

Gabriella didn't say anything right away. She was trying to figure out what to say that didn't make her seem like she wanted to run into him whenever she could.

"I asked you here to make the people around me think that I wasn't going to end up alone for the rest of my life. When Kyle's around, old feelings come up, I wouldn't expect you to understand," Gabriella said coldly.

"Luckily for you, I do understand. But if you want him to believe that you're dating me, you might not want to flirt with him."

"What makes you think I was flirting with him?" Gabriella asked with snappiness in her voice.

"You couldn't stop smiling," Troy answered, running his hand underneath her hair and moving it so that it fell over her left shoulder.

Gabriella's arms prickled with the feeling of goose bumps appearing on her skin and she turned her head to look at him. He was looking at her intently for a few seconds, before looking out across the lake at the house that belonged to Kyle. The windows revealed the light of many lamps that were on in the house and someone was walking back and forth along an upstairs hallway, probably looking out at them.

He sat forward, running his fingertips along her back before kissing her for a long drawn out minute. Gabriella's hand instantly went to his bare chest, and he trailed his nose along her cheek before whispering in her ear.

"He's watching us."

Gabriella's heart sank, but at the time she didn't think anything of it. She looked into Troy's eyes as he moved back to sitting normally and she twirled her foot in the water, watching as rippled circles formed around it. Her lips tingled and tasted like a mix of Chap Stick and coke, but even though she knew that Troy had kissed her because he knew they were being watched, she couldn't keep her heart from pounding uncontrollably.

"We were just talking about the past," Gabriella told him. "That's all there is left."

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Gabriella," Troy said with a shrug. "I believe you."

"Uh, guys, I hate to break up this lovely moment you're having, but I think mom found out that we're not where we're supposed to be," Brandon said, stopping his jog once he got to the dock.

"We knew she'd figure out eventually," Gabriella said.

"Yeah, but she left three voice mails on my phone already and I think it's safe to say that we're dead when we get home."

"She'll think I'm a bad influence," Troy said, standing up and taking Gabriella's hand to help her up as well. He didn't seem too worried, which made Gabriella giggle quietly.

"Gabriella, this isn't funny, she said that if we're not home by nine, she's sending dad out to find us."

"What time is it?" Troy asked as they made their way off of the dock.

"Nine," Brandon said.

With that, the three of them started to run as if their life depended on it. Since Mr. Montez was getting involved, they knew that they were definitely in for a long lecture and potentially an end to their two week stay at the house. That wouldn't be good for any of them.

...

When Brandon pulled into the driveway, each of them let out a curse word when they saw Mrs. Montez standing on the sidewalk going to the front door with her hands on her hips and a very angry expression on her face. Brandon took the keys out of the ignition and Gabriella and Troy scurried out of the car with guilty looks on their faces.

"What were you three thinking?" Mrs. Montez asked once they were all standing in front of her. "I tried to get a hold of you, Brandon, and you didn't pick up your phone, and Gabriella you didn't even have yours with you!"

"We didn't think it was a big deal, mom. Gabriella shouldn't have to be forced to become friends with Serena if she doesn't want to," Brandon said honestly.

"Where did you even go?" Mrs. Montez asked, disregarding what her son said.

"We went to the lake. We're twenty six years old, mom, we don't have to tell you everything we do," Gabriella said in annoyance.

"That's where you're wrong," Mrs. Montez replied angrily. "If you're living under my roof, you will do as I say and tell me where you are going, do you understand?"

"Yes," the three of them said together.

"Good, now is there a reason why you boys look like lobsters?" she asked.

Gabriella sighed, knowing that they hadn't listened to her when she told them they needed suntan lotion on. She handed Troy her bag and walked past her mom, towards the front door.

"I'll get the aloe," she told them.

...

Mr. Montez sat on the recliner in the family room while watching the news. He wasn't the least bit concerned about the fact that the three kids had snuck off to a place they weren't meant to be because he knew that Karma would come back and bite them in the butt. And it had in some sorts because both Troy and Brandon were sprawled out in the family room, feeling the sunburn kick in.

Their backs were red from the sunburn and their shirts were being used as pillows while they waited for Gabriella to come back with something to relieve the pain. Brandon was sprawled out on the floor next to the fireplace that wasn't on, and Troy was lying on the couch, trying to pay attention to the news instead of his pain.

"Who's first?" Gabriella asked, holding Motrin and a green bottle of aloe in her hands.

"Me!" Brandon said quickly, his voice muffled because his face was pressed into his cool shirt.

Gabriella laughed and sat on the floor next to her brother, tossing him the pain killers, which he swallowed with no water easily. She squirted a swirl of the green gel on his back and he moaned in agony.

"I hate you," he told her as she rubbed it on, giggling.

"You should have listened to me," Gabriella said to him.

"You should have listened to _me_," Mr. Montez said to them. "If you would have gone where you were supposed to go, maybe this wouldn't have happened."

"They were just trying to help, Dad. It was my fault, not theirs," Gabriella said to her dad, looking over at him.

"I wanted to see Serena as much as Gabriella did," Brandon said. "I think it's all Serena's fault for being so evil."

"I agree," Gabriella nodded.

Mr. Montez pressed a button on the remote control and shook his head while the TV clicked off. He stood from his chair and looked at his kids.

"At the end of the day, family is what matters. Remember that," he said as he made his way towards the stairs, so he could finally go to bed. "Brandon, come with me so that Troy and Gabriella can say goodnight."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Brandon said, getting up quickly so he wouldn't have to see any lip action between his sister and Troy. He walked slowly over to the stairs, trying not to brush anything against his back, and Mr. Montez purposely patted him on the back with a chuckle.

"Troy, don't forget that your bed is in the barn," Mr. Montez said while walking up the stairs.

"Dad," Gabriella sighed.

"Yes, sir."

Gabriella sat down on the floor next to the couch and Troy turned his head to look at her, instead of staring at the back of the couch. She smiled at him, handing him the Motrin, which he took just as easily as Brandon did.

"It's going to be cold," Gabriella told him once she twisted off the cap of the aloe bottle. Troy nodded, wincing slightly when his skin came in contact with the cold gel. Gabriella felt bad for hurting him, but after a few seconds, he didn't seem to mind it anymore.

"I don't remember the last time I got sunburn," Troy told her, noticing that she had changed into a pair of pajama shorts and a white t-shirt. It was obvious that she had gotten some sun too, but she was tan, not sunburned.

"Are you the kind of person who tans instead of burns?" Gabriella asked, trying to ignore how muscular Troy was.

"Yeah, so I wasn't worried."

"Never underestimate the sun," Gabriella told him with a smile.

"I'll remember that for next time."

Troy's eyes closed as Gabriella rubbed the gel on his back so that it was evenly spread out and covered everywhere that had burned. She closed the bottle and set it on the coffee table, leaning her back against the couch. She stayed there, not wanting to get up because the day of fresh air had tired her out and her energy was escaping her as time went on.

"I can't get up," Troy whispered, causing Gabriella to laugh quietly.

She looked over to see Troy with his eyes closed still and his head was resting on his right arm, while his left arm was dangling off of the side of the couch.

"Neither can I," Gabriella sighed, lying down on the floor and using her arms as pillows. "I'm sleeping here tonight."

"Your dad will kill me if I stay here," Troy said quietly.

"Maybe. But do you really want to get up?" Gabriella asked.

"No," Troy whispered, breathing deeply, accidentally brushing his hand against her head.

Instead of moving his hand, he played with her hair, as if it was a way to lull himself to sleep, and she fell asleep as he did, not noticing when he finally stopped and began to snore softly.

* * *

**Like it? Review!**

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews! Just to let everyone know, this story is already written, so I can't change anything or add anything into the next chapters, but thanks for the suggestions. A lot of people want to know what Troy thinks of Gabriella, but this story is truly from Gabriella's perspective... the only time you'll hear what Troy thinks is in dialogue when people directly ask him questions about her, other than that, Troy's a mystery. ;) Also, their relationship is slow in this story because technically, Troy already has a "somebody". Enjoy!**

* * *

Pick Me Up

Chapter eight

Troy and Gabriella woke up to the sound of the phone ringing loudly through out the house. The curtains in the family room were still pulled shut and from where Gabriella was lying, she could see the kitchen windows open, letting in the warm air. She propped herself up on her elbows, feeling the ache in her back that most likely occurred because she had slept on the floor.

She looked over at the couch and was met with a pair of icy blue eyes. Troy smiled at her as he kept his cheek pressed against the brown cushion of the couch. His hair was tousled and his shoulder wrinkled at the top where it bent.

"This couch is a lot more comfortable than the hay," Troy told her, staying still while looking down at her.

"I bet," Gabriella smiled. "Your back looks better," she said, sitting up from the floor. Troy sat up as well, but groaned once he was finally standing next to her, feeling the burn of his skin.

"Spoke too soon," he said, tiptoeing out between the couch and the coffee table.

Gabriella placed her cool hand on his back as she followed him, and he relaxed against her touch, sighing.

"I guess I'll be shirtless today," Troy told her, holding his hand against his chest as they walked towards the stairs.

"I don't have a problem with that," Gabriella smirked, leading Troy up the stairs. "You can take a shower first, just let me brush my teeth."

"Okay," he said, following her into the bathroom, where he reached over her, snatching his tooth brush from the tooth brush holder to brush his teeth too.

Gabriella squirted toothpaste on his tooth brush after doing the same to hers and they looked at each other in the mirror while foaming up the paste in their mouths. They were laughing as a puff of toothpaste fell down Troy's chest, and Gabriella tried not to choke on her own toothpaste while laughing.

She spit quickly, whipping her mouth with water before passing him a washcloth to wipe his chest off with.

"I'm sure that makes the sunburn feel wonderful," Gabriella said while he spit and set his toothbrush back where it belonged.

"Just wonderful," Troy said sarcastically. "How does my breath smell?" They were laughing again as Troy blew on her face, sending a minty scented breeze against her. Gabriella giggled, telling him it smelt absolutely wonderful.

"Okay, you two, that's enough for one morning," Mr. Montez said as he was just about to pass them while going down the hallway. "I'm sure you two got enough of each other last night."

"Dad!"

Gabriella sped out of the bathroom, following her dad and leaving Troy to take a shower. Troy chuckled while closing the bathroom door, hearing Gabriella whining to her dad.

"You know, Dad," Gabriella started as she sat down on her parent's bed, watching as her dad folded laundry that was currently on a pile in the middle of the bed. "You have to trust me one of these days."

"Not as long as there's a boy in the picture," Mr. Montez said. "I know how guys think, Gabi, I'm not an idiot."

"I never said you were, Dad, but Troy isn't just some guy. Trust me when I say, he's not going to try anything."

Mr. Montez looked at his daughter with an unsure expression. His dark hair was combed back and he was wearing a grey t-shirt that hung loosely on his shoulders. His skin was red, showing off sunburn that always seemed to be there.

"He's staying in the barn," Mr. Montez told her. "Sunburn or not."

"That's fine," Gabriella shrugged, picking up two lone socks and folding them together.

"Your mom was pretty mad yesterday when she found out you weren't where you were supposed to be," Mr. Montez said.

"I'm sorry Dad, but Mom and Aunt Tina shouldn't have gone behind my back and tried to get me and Serena to be friends. I'm telling you now, that it's never going to happen," Gabriella said.

"Your mom just wants the whole family to get along. I'm sure she was so excited that everyone was so fond of Troy, that it made her want to fix your relationship with Serena."

Gabriella sighed, not knowing what to say to that. She knew she'd never like her cousin and she didn't expect her parents to understand. Ever since she was a kid, Serena made it her top priority to be the meanest person to Gabriella.

"When you say everyone was fond of Troy, does that mean you are too?" Gabriella asked, smirking at her dad, who was realizing that he had backed right into the question.

"He's nice," Mr. Montez told her, laughing at his daughter's face.

"That's all you have to say about the subject?"

Mr. Montez eyed Gabriella, knowing that Gabriella knew that he didn't like that she was dating, or that when she did date, she fell for guys hard, which worried him at times.

"I like him. He's respectable, which was obvious this morning when I woke up to find both of you in the same position you were in when I checked on you at midnight," Mr. Montez said, chuckling.

"Then why do you always make the comments about Troy and I doing the _unmentionables?_" Gabriella asked, raising her eyebrows at her father while getting up from the bed.

"I'm testing Troy. If he looks guilty, then I know I'm right about it, if he looks calm, I know he's either innocent or a good actor, and he's looked pretty innocent," Mr. Montez said.

"Huh, well, I guess he's a pretty good actor than," Gabriella giggled, running out of the room when she heard her dad say her name in annoyance.

"I'm killing that boy once he's out of the shower!" Mr. Montez yelled back to Gabriella.

"Yeah, yeah."

...

"When people say cats have nine lives, what's their proof?" Brandon asked as he, Troy and Gabriella sat on the deck stairs, watching the neighbor's cat claw it's way up a tall tree by the barn. It had a bald spot on its back from a surgery it had a few months ago after a fall from the same tree it was climbing up now.

"I had a cat once," Troy said as he took a sip from the water bottle he was holding onto.

"Did it have nine lives?" Brandon asked.

"Well, it ran away and we never saw it again," Troy answered honestly, watching as the cat slid down the tree, discouraged by the climb. It started walking back home when it realized the tree was no longer easy to climb.

"I've suddenly realized we never had a pet," Gabriella said while perching her chin on the palm of her hand that was resting on her knee.

"I had a frog in elementary school," Brandon said.

"I was terrified of it," Gabriella replied. "That didn't count."

"What are you three doing?"

The young adults looked behind them, seeing Mrs. Montez wearing a sun hat and sunglasses with a watering can in her hand. They all shrugged, squinting at the sun that was shining on their backs.

"There's nothing to do," Gabriella told her. "We've been cat watching."

"There's a ton to do!" Mrs. Montez exclaimed, causing the group to sigh, sensing a list of chores forming in the woman's head.

"I need someone to go to the grocery store for me, and whoever doesn't want to do that can drop off the stereo that I borrowed for the reunion," Mrs. Montez said.

"I went grocery shopping last time!" Gabriella said quickly, causing Brandon to groan in annoyance. He hated grocery shopping.

"I'll help you, man," Troy laughed, standing up from his sitting position, stepping onto the deck so that he was level with Mrs. Montez now.

"Okay, so where am I taking the stereo?" Gabriella asked, standing with Troy, casually snaking her arm around his waist. She smirked when her mother did when she saw the small act of affection towards Troy by her daughter.

"Kyle's house," Mrs. Montez said. "Do you know where his new place is?"

"You didn't see that one coming," Brandon said with a surprised look, going into the house before he could be recruited to go return the stereo himself.

Gabriella sighed, dropping her head against Troy's strong shoulder with a defeated expression. He patted her on her hip where his hand sat after wrapping his arm around her and exchanged a knowing look with her.

"Yeah, I know where it is," Gabriella said, stepping out from under Troy's arm and towards the back door. "I'll be back as soon as possible."

...

Gabriella's sunglasses were perched on the top of her head as she drove to Kyle's house. The sun was currently shaded by the trees that lined the winding road up to his house by the lake, so she didn't need them currently. The radio was off because she lost the signal driving over to his place, so the only thing she could hear was the air conditioning and her nervous tapping against the steering wheel.

When Gabriella pulled into Kyle's driveway, she couldn't help but notice that his yard was perfectly cut and trimmed, like he spent most of his time making sure that there wasn't a weed or mistake in sight.

That was like him though. He didn't like looking second best to anything, and he definitely didn't like being imperfect. He had a lot of practice with yard maintenance though. His family owned the best lawn company around town and they made enough money in the summer to last until the next.

She got out of the car after a few minutes of hesitation, and went around to her trunk, pulling out the large stereo. The stereo was heavier than she expected it to be. Troy had put it in the trunk for her, so she didn't test the weight out before hand.

Making her way up to the porch was a hassle that lasted too long, and Gabriella complained out loud to herself as she rang the doorbell, unhappy that she was standing on her ex's porch with his stereo, one that she had returned to him, in fact, when they broke up years ago.

Gabriella tapped her foot impatiently after standing on the porch for a few minutes without an answer. She turned away; ready to leave since no one was answering the door.

"Hey, Gabriella, what's up?"

Gabriella turned when she heard Kyle, and her eyebrows instantly drew up when she saw him wet and wrapped from the waist down in a towel.

"I should have called first. My mom wanted me to return this to you."

"Come on in, I'll get dressed and we'll have a drink."

"No, its okay, I just wanted to give this back," Gabriella said with a shake of her head.

"I insist," Kyle said, opening the door open wider and gesturing for her to come in.

"Okay," Gabriella mumbled. "But only for a minute."

...

"So this is kind of like dejavu," Kyle said as he walked into the kitchen where Gabriella had wondered to. He was now dressed in a pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt and he went to the refrigerator, pulling out two cokes.

"How so?" Gabriella asked, taking the coke and opening it, hearing the snap of the top of the tin can.

"You're standing in my kitchen, returning my stereo," Kyle said, hoping onto the counter across from her, leaning against the expensive looking cabinets.

"I guess you're right," Gabriella said with an awkward nod.

"I heard you snuck off to come to the lake yesterday. How much trouble did you get into?" Kyle asked, amused that she broke the rules.

"How'd you know I snuck over here?" Gabriella asked.

"It's a small town," Kyle answered while sliding off of the counter, walking over to the stereo. He examined it, running his finger over the top, pressing down on the part where the CD's went in and watched it open, and then closed it. "So how much trouble were you in."

"I didn't get in any trouble," Gabriella said.

"Well, that's a surprise," Kyle said. "Whenever you were with me, you were always getting in trouble."

"That's because you're a trouble maker."

"I'm proud to say that I've changed," Kyle said with a smirk, looking over at her with more amusement twinkling in his eyes.

"I'm proud to say I know when people are full of shit," Gabriella said seriously. "And you are."

"Ah, don't be like that Gabriella, I'm just kidding around."

Gabriella shrugged, taking another sip of her coke. She looked around the kitchen, noticing how modern everything looked. She wasn't sure she liked how expensive and new everything looked.

"You have a nice house," Gabriella said as she walked away from the kitchen island where Kyle was making himself comfortably close to her.

Kyle stopped next to her while she was looking out at the family room where the wall of windows lined the back of the house. Just where they were standing they could see the lake and Gabriella sighed, loving the view.

"The windows are my favorite part," Kyle said. "You can see everything just by standing here."

Gabriella nodded, looking out the windows and squinting slightly. She could see the dock across the lake where she had been tanning the day before and she raised her eyebrows, glancing over at Kyle.

"You weren't spying on me the other day, were you?" She asked him.

"Me? Spying? I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're a terrible liar," Gabriella told him with a soft laugh.

"I was just making sure you were okay. You know, I do worry about you sometimes," Kyle said innocently.

"I highly doubt that," Gabriella said archly.

Kyle laughed with a shake of his head, looking sideways at her.

"You really don't like me anymore, do you?" He asked.

Gabriella glanced at him, folding her arms over her chest as her way of protecting herself from his undeniable charm. His after shave was strong and when she breathed in she was over come by his scent. He smelt powerful, and boastful, and it had her stomach churning as he waited for a response.

"You're an ass hole, Kyle. It just took me a long time to figure that out," Gabriella said honestly.

"Wow, way to bring down my ego, G," Kyle said to her in a tone that sounded like the tone he used whenever a fight started between them.

"Don't call me G, Kyle," Gabriella said with an eye roll, turning away from the beautiful sight through the window and walking away from him.

"Come on, Gabriella, why don't we start this conversation over?" Kyle suggested as he followed her. "You can ring the door bell and I'll answer the door fully clothed with a smile, what about that?"

"I just came to give you back the stereo, not to make small talk," Gabriella said, looking back at him while going towards the front door.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have invited you in," Kyle said with a shrug.

"I shouldn't have come in."

Gabriella opened the front door, turning to face him with a tired expression on her face.

"Thanks for letting us borrow the stereo," Gabriella said with a nod.

"Anytime," Kyle replied, running a hand through his hair. "Gabriella, I still care about you, you know. I'm sorry if I hurt you back in college, but the end of our relationship didn't change my feelings about you."

Gabriella laughed in disbelief, stepping out onto the porch. Why couldn't she be with someone now so that she didn't have to suffer through this confession of feelings? She looked up at Kyle, wondering if he had practiced this act in the mirror before he came into the kitchen. She knew he was full of crap just by the expression in his eyes. He was probably just lonely and wanted a companion.

"You broke up with me, remember, Kyle?" Gabriella asked with an eye roll. "I wouldn't sleep with you, so you dumped me and left me at a wild party with no car or way to get home. I had to walk four miles barefoot."

"And I'll regret that for the rest of my life."

"Or until you find someone else," Gabriella said. "I know you, Kyle, too much, and I know when you're looking for a one night stand so you can go around with a nice story to tell."

"Do you really think that little of me, Gabriella?" Kyle asked, stepping out onto the porch when Gabriella took a few steps on the sidewalk leading to the driveway.

"Yes, Kyle, I do think that little of you."

"Fine, why don't you just go back to your perfect rule following boyfriend, Gabriella. I'm sure you two just love being bored together."

"Don't bring him into this so that you have some way of defending yourself!" Gabriella said, walking towards him, now regretting ever insulting him or bringing up any weird feelings. "He loves me more than you ever did."

Her stomach tightened when she told him that, wishing that it was actually true; that she had someone who really did love her. Kyle's chest rose in frustration and he shook his head at her.

"Whatever, go home and pretend like you're over me, Gabriella. We both know you're not."

Gabriella didn't say anything to his dig at her as she walked away. She was fuming with anger and she could feel her blood pressure rising as she got into her car and pulled away, wishing she had "accidentally" dropped his stereo on the sidewalk.

...

Brandon and Troy turned away from unpacking the groceries when they heard Gabriella throw down her car keys with a pissed expression on her face as she rushed through the kitchen and out the back door.

"He must have pissed her off," Brandon said, while unloading a bag of fruit.

"I'll go talk to her," Troy said, making his way towards the back door so that he could follow her out onto the deck.

Gabriella was pacing at the bottom of the deck stairs when Troy stepped onto the deck. He quietly made his way down the stairs and smiled when she noticed him there. His hands were in his jean pockets and she stopped pacing, looking at him.

"I told myself a million times on my way there that I wouldn't let him get to me, but he did," Gabriella told him. "One second we're talking about dejavu, and the next we're fighting about old feelings."

"He's probably just jealous," Troy said, sitting on the bottom step, looking over at Gabriella.

"The last thing he said to me was that he didn't think I was over him," Gabriella said, sitting down next to Troy.

"Are you?" He asked, watching as Gabriella rubbed her forehead in frustration.

"I don't know," she told him, running a hand through her hair and letting out a sigh. "I just wanted to make him jealous so that I could feel better about everything he did to me, but now that he's around I feel like he's winning."

"Don't let him win, then," Troy said, giving her a comforting rub on the back. "Don't let him get in your head and make you feel like you can't move on from him."

"Thank you," Gabriella said, looking over at him with a smile. "I couldn't have gotten this far without you."

"No need to thank me, I'm just helping out a friend," he said with a smile.

"Well, thanks for the help, friend," Gabriella laughed, making him laugh too as he pulled her into a side hug.

"We should do something," Troy said suddenly, looking down at Gabriella who was now leaning her head on his shoulder.

She laughed when she heard him, losing contact with his shoulder to look at him.

"Like what?" She asked, smiling.

"I don't know. We could go somewhere we haven't been before together… we could quiz each other because your brother asked me a question when you were gone, and I had no idea what the answer was," Troy answered.

"What did he ask?"

"You'll have to wait and see," Troy replied mysteriously, hoping that keeping the unimportant question to himself would make her want to get out.

Gabriella smiled wider, shaking her head at him, but her answer was the opposite of her head turning motion.

"Sure, let's go somewhere," Gabriella said. "I'll pick the place; you break it to my mom that we won't be home for dinner, deal?"

"We won't be home for dinner?" Troy asked. "And why do I always have to do the dirty work?"

"Because that's what boyfriends do, Troy, don't you know that?" Gabriella teased, standing and turning before running up the stairs with a little bit of excitement in her step.

Troy shook his head at her comment, but got up and went to look for Mrs. Montez anyways, even though he didn't necessarily want to confront her about skipping the very important-bonding Montez family dinner.

...

Mrs. Montez didn't have a problem at all with Troy and Gabriella skipping dinner. In fact, when Troy had asked her, she was so thrilled about them getting out of the house, it was almost suspicious. Troy didn't want her to change her mind though, so he left quickly and found Gabriella in the kitchen packing a picnic basket, and the two of them were off.

Now, they were just pulling up next to a row of tall trees, coated with moss, that were lining the dirt road they had been driving on for just a few minutes. Gabriella smiled, putting her car in park and Troy grabbed the picnic basket and blanket from the back seat, bringing it to the front before stepping out of the car.

"What is this place?" Troy asked, noticing a small lake just beyond the trees. "And how many lakes do you have around here?"

"I found this place coming home from a half day of school. I accidentally took the back roads home, which lead me here… and this lake is one of few without houses surrounding it now, so don't make fun of my lakes," Gabriella said, leading Troy towards an open piece of land right past the trees.

"I'm sorry for being so inconsiderate," Troy said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, but Gabriella didn't care enough to notice. She spread the blanket on the ground and Troy set the picnic basket down once she was settled.

"Should we eat first, or talk first?" Gabriella asked once Troy was sitting down. The sun was bright against their backs, but the trees occasionally shaded them when they swayed left or right in the breeze.

"How about we eat and talk at the same time?" Troy suggested.

"I knew you'd say that," Gabriella smirked, pulling out food from the basket, which mainly consisted of fruit and sandwiches cut on a diagonal.

"Maybe we don't have to be here after all, if you already know what I'd do," Troy smiled in a teasing way, taking a green grape off of a stubborn steam, and then putting it in his mouth.

Gabriella only smiled back, taking a piece of cantaloupe from a plastic container, and eating it.

"So, what did my brother ask you this morning?" Gabriella asked, curious still. She had been thinking of all the possible question her annoying, but sometimes charming, brother could have asked.

"I'm not telling," Troy said, chuckling when he saw the unimpressed look on Gabriella's face. "I'm going to torture you and wait a long time before revealing the question."

"I bet it's not even important," Gabriella replied.

"It's not, but it'll still annoy you."

"Well, since you know so much about me…" Gabriella trailed off, mocking Troy's previous comment towards her. He laughed, eating another grape.

"What don't I know about you, Gabriella Montez?" Troy asked, looking over at her from his leaned back position against his hands. She caught his gaze from her spot diagonal from him, and smiled at him.

"A lot," she said calmly. "I'm just not sure how much you really want to know about me."

"I think it'd be best if I knew everything about you," Troy answered with a confident nod.

"My middle name is Amanda," she said simply, starting off small.

"Mine's James," Troy said back to her.

"I was born on Valentine's Day, but I celebrate my birthday in October because I think being a Valentine's baby is corny," Gabriella said.

"It's only a little bit corny," Troy said, holding his hand up and separating his index finger and thumb a short distance away from each other to show off what he thought was a little bit. "But I'm sure your parents were happy about it," Troy said.

"I've been told they were, but how much of what they tell you can you really believe?" Gabriella asked. "After all, they did lie about the Easter Bunny."

Troy laughed, shaking his head at her sense of humor. It was always subtle, but you could tell when she wanted to make a point with her comments.

"I was born on January fourth, nothing special," Troy said.

Their conversation weaved through their elementary days, and through middle school, and as the sun was getting low in the sky, they were talking about high school, and about all the times they wished they would have had more fun as a kid. They were lying next to each other, shoulder to shoulder, as they asked each other questions about life in general, about their favorite things and about lessons learned.

Troy looked over at Gabriella, who lay laughing loudly when he told her he'd rather spend a day with Paris Hilton than Lindsay Lohan. His reasons weren't important, just the way he gagged at the thought of being with either of them had Gabriella laughing.

"What does she look like?" Gabriella asked as they approached on the Caitlyn subject, the girl that Troy was going to Maine for. She was lying on her side now, her hands in a fist underneath her head to keep her propped up so that she could look at Troy, who was just lying on his back, looking up at the sky through the branches of the trees.

"She's pretty," Troy said, sighing in a daydreaming kind of way. "She's blonde and has green eyes."

"Ohh, model?" Gabriella asked, smiling softly.

Troy laughed, glancing at her.

"Volleyball player; not the type to know who's on the cover of the latest issue of People," Troy explained.

"Sandra Bullock."

"What?"

"Sandra Bullock was on the cover of this month's People magazine," Gabriella told him. "I'm that kind of person."

"I didn't mean to insult you…" Troy started.

"You didn't. Continue," Gabriella said with another smile, stress-free as she looked at him.

"I don't know what more to say," Troy admitted. "She's in workout clothes most of the time, but when I saw her at my brother's wedding…"

"You fell for her."

Troy tilted his head to the side to look at Gabriella. She seemed to be generally happy about talking about his love interest. That impressed him, to say the least. If he was talking to any other girl, she'd probably not be as kind as Gabriella was being.

"I fell for her," he nodded.

"So, what are you going to say to her when you get to Maine?"

"I haven't figured that out yet," Troy told her.

"Well, you better figure that out because the days are dwindling," Gabriella said.

"Dwindling?" Troy laughed.

"To decrease little by little, dwindling," Gabriella replied seriously. "You should practice what you're going to say."

"With who?"

"With me."

"No way," Troy said. "I couldn't practice a serious conversation with you."

"Why not?" Gabriella asked, sitting up so that her weight was on her elbows and she was looking over at him.

"Because you make me laugh," Troy laughed, noticing how serious she was being.

"Troy dear, what are you doing here all the way in Maine?" Gabriella voiced changed to one that would be heard in an old movie. Her voice rose and fell with each word.

"Stop," Troy chuckled. "We're not doing this."

"You look parched, would you like something to drink after your long journey to see me?" Gabriella reached behind her, holding up a water bottle in front of Troy's face seconds later. Her face was one that was written with enthusiasm and she giggled as Troy whacked the water bottle away from him.

"You're not funny."

"Then why are you laughing?" Gabriella asked him. "Troy, come on, you can't go all the way to Maine after all of this and make up what you're going to say once you finally get in front of her."

"Why not? I thought girls liked spur of the moment kind of things."

"We do. But we expect them to be thoroughly rehearsed if it's at all life changing," Gabriella explained with a nod.

"Life changing? I don't think it's that life changing," Troy said, sitting up slightly in panic, as if he hadn't thought of his actions being that dramatic.

"See, if you would have just gone along with me a few seconds ago, you wouldn't be so panicked."

"I'm not panicking, you're just freaking me out," Troy explained, sitting up, causing her to do the same to remain eye level to him.

"Relax," Gabriella said, crossing her legs pretzel style. "I won't say anything about the subject anymore."

"Thank you," Troy said simply; glad to know that he wouldn't have to reveal what he was going to say to Caitlyn to Gabriella.

"Should I give you the chance to get back at me for making you feel cornered?" Gabriella asked, gathering her hair in her hands, and tossing it behind her so that it rested against her shoulder blades.

"You should," Troy smirked, going back to lying down, realizing he had been more comfortable facing the sky. "How about this: why did you tell your family that you were the one who ended your relationship with Kyle? Why didn't you just tell them he broke your heart?"

Gabriella laid down next to him before answering him. Her head rested on his arm that was out stretched to his left. He absentmindedly wrapped his arm around her when he felt her lying against his side and she set her hand against his side, feeling him breathe slowly.

"It's a small town. People blame people for a long time when something bad or mean happens," Gabriella answered with a constricted shrug.

"You have to give me more than that," Troy said.

"I knew I wouldn't be sticking around, so if I came out to be the one who ended the town's cutest relationship, I'd be out of earshot from the annoying rumors and comments."

"If you were as hurt as I think you were from the break up, considering you picked me up from the side of the road to make him jealous, why wouldn't you want him to pay?" Troy asked.

"Because I've always been the person that helped people. I was never out to get anyone back," Gabriella answered. "I know I probably sound crazy to you, but at least I'm not the one with a guilty conscious."

"I guess I can understand that."

"What did my brother ask you, Troy?" Gabriella asked quietly, figuring that it had been a few hours since she last brought it up.

"He asked me if I loved you," Troy said, tilting his head to see her, which caused his lips to rub against her forehead, but he didn't move when he realized it.

"What did you say?" Gabriella asked cautiously.

"Well, I stood there for a second trying to think of what you'd want me to say," Troy told her. "I told him I didn't know."

"That's good," Gabriella said with a nod, feeling his breath on her face. "I would have said the same."

"So your brother isn't going to be out to get me?" Troy asked with a laugh.

"Let's hope not," Gabriella replied.

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

They laughed quietly together at Troy's concern, and when they realized that it was now late and by the time they would get home, it would be dark out, they decided to leave, gathering up their things and bringing it to Gabriella' car.

...

Mrs. Montez stood by her bedroom window, peeking out through the light curtains when she noticed Troy and Gabriella pulling up in the driveway. They held hands as they walked to the backyard, where they talked briefly about something, kissed goodnight and departed. Glancing back at each other occasionally as they walked to where they were headed.

Troy looked over at Gabriella as they headed to the backyard, both of them being quiet in hopes of not waking up anyone or drawing attention their way. They both laughed quietly when they saw Mrs. Montez spying on them from her room upstairs.

"I guess kissing you goodnight is unavoidable," Gabriella said with a smirk.

"As if you don't want to kiss me," Troy teased, knowing that he thought the same about the inevitable kiss goodnight.

"Are we going to count to three, or just go for it?" Gabriella asked with a laugh, realizing how crazy she sounded, but Troy laughed too, knowing it was awkward.

Troy moved forward, giving her his answer, and she laughed quietly before reaching up to kiss him. Troy's hand rested on her neck and her hands rested on his chest as they kissed, longer than planned, but somehow unstopped by either of them.

Whether the kiss lasted longer because they had just spent an entire day telling each other about their lives, or because they wanted to make it look believable, neither of them knew, they just separated, glancing at each other after, and walked away.

* * *

**Like it? Review!**

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter. I'm too tired to remember anything I was planning on saying, so... Enjoy!**

* * *

Pick Me Up

Chapter nine

There was a sense of excitement whipping through the Montez house a few days later. Gabriella was in a white sundress and her skin was especially glowing from her days in the sun. She was wiping off the counter and dancing around the kitchen as her way of working off her excitement. Her best friend Taylor was flying in from California for a weekend vacation and they hadn't seen each other for a few weeks, considering Gabriella was currently at her parent's house, and when she wasn't, she was traveling around the country.

"Gabriella! A car's in the driveway!" Brandon called from upstairs, causing Gabriella to squeal in excitement and rush out the back door to the deck.

Troy laughed when Gabriella appeared on the deck in a hurry. He was playing cards with Mr. Montez and he was starting to regret playing because he already owed Mr. Montez twenty bucks after a bad hand.

"Taylor's here!"

"Well, Troy, I think that's your Q," Mr. Montez said. "But you still owe me twenty bucks."

"I'll get that to you," Troy laughed, taking Gabriella's hand when she pulled him away from the table to accompany her to the driveway.

They looped around to the side of the house once they descended the deck stairs and walked quickly, thanks to Gabriella, towards the driveway. An expensive looking black car sat in the driveway and Taylor stood leaning against it, talking on her phone. She was wearing black dress pants and a silk short sleeved shirt that rested loosely on her slim torso.

"Are you working already?" Gabriella asked once they neared Taylor. Gabriella was smiling widely, and Troy smiled too, noticing how happy a visit from her friend was making Gabriella.

"I'll call you back later, bye," Taylor said quickly to the person on the other side of the phone conversation. She squealed when she saw her friend and pulled her into an instant hug when Gabriella leaped excitedly towards her.

"It's been too long!" Gabriella exclaimed while hugging her friend.

"When was the last time I was even here? High school?" Taylor asked, looking at the familiar house.

"I think so," Gabriella nodded. "How was the flight?"

"Interesting. My blazer was ruined by a toddler who decided it would be funny to throw up on me," she said with a shake of her head. "It wasn't funny," she added seriously.

Gabriella laughed out loud, knowing that her friend didn't have a soft heart for kids. She didn't like messes either. Taylor laughed softly, and then raised her eyebrows when she finally noticed Troy standing at the front of the car. He was wearing kaki pants and a baby blue button up shirt.

"You must be Troy!" Taylor said with a smile, waving from her spot next to Gabriella. "The hand holding was _very_ believable."

Gabriella bit her lip, watching Troy to see if he would be mad that Taylor knew about their act, but he only laughed, shrugging at her comment.

"It's nice to meet you," Troy nodded, smiling.

"I brought something for you," Taylor said. "Well, actually someone. He hit on me at the airport, and I threatened a lawsuit, but he talked his way out of it… and unluckily for me, he was sitting next to me on the plane, so we were forced to share our life stories."

Troy looked at her in confusion, along with Gabriella, and she only held up her finger in a way that meant they'd understand in a minute. She opened the back door of the car, and out stepped the one and only best friend of Troy Bolton; the famous Chad Danforth. His hair was trimmed short and he was wearing a nice suit with a purple tie, as if he was originally supposed to be stopping at an important business meeting.

"Whoa," Gabriella said when he saw the attractive male step out of the car. He was tall and she exchanged a look with Taylor, hinting that she didn't buy that Taylor was upset that he hit on her.

"Here's your blazer, Taylor," Chad laughed, tossing it at her, seeing her cringe. "Troy, man, you got a fake girlfriend and didn't tell me?" He asked.

"What are you doing here?" Troy asked with a happy smile, hugging his friend once Chad walked towards him.

"Well, I was supposed to be here for a commercial, but I lied and said I had the stomach flu," Chad explained. "What's with you, lately? Weren't you supposed to be on a road trip to clear your head?"

"I hit a detour," Troy answered. "My car broke down, and Gabriella picked me up."

"And now you're faking being her boyfriend?" Chad asked with a smirk.

"Alright, guys, if we talk any louder about this, we're not going to have to fake it anymore," Gabriella said, stepping over by them. "I'm Gabriella, by the way," she added.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Chad, but I'm sure Troy has told you all about me," he said with a smile.

"If not, I know everything about him," Taylor said to her, eyeing Chad who seemed to be amused by her comment.

"I think she has a crush on me," Chad told Troy, chuckling.

"Ah," Troy said with a laugh.

"I think I need a fake boyfriend of my own to ward him off," Taylor mumbled, pulling Gabriella with her up the driveway, leaving the guys behind. "Chad, be a doll and get my luggage, would you?"

"Of course," Chad called after her, turning to Troy once they were out of sight. "She's gorgeous, dude."

"Oh, yeah, she didn't seem to like you though."

"Not _Taylor_, although I do agree, she's hot, but I was talking about Gabriella. You hit one nice detour."

"I'm just helping her out," Troy said as he started to walk towards the backyard, gesturing for Chad to follow him. "You know I'm going to Maine, right? I'm not exactly available."

Chad shrugged as if he was unsure.

"Maybe you should reconsider Maine, man," Chad said.

"Hey, weren't you the one who told me to follow my heart and go to Maine?" Troy asked. "What happened with that?"

Chad paused for a second and shrugged again.

"Never mind. I guess I've just come to realize that sometimes you run into someone who makes you think you don't need anyone else around," Chad said.

"Taylor?"

"Maybe, but I'm not admitting anything," Chad laughed.

"You just met her," Troy pointed out.

"And you just met Gabriella. How are you feeling about her?"

Chad gave him a look that indicated he thought Gabriella wasn't just some girl that picked him up off of the side of the road. Troy only shook his head while they made their way up the deck stairs, and once they were in view, the family sitting on the deck seemed especially surprised to see a Lakers player in their backyard.

"Gabriella, did you forget to tell us something?" Mr. Montez asked, staring at Troy and the man standing next to him.

The back door was heard sliding open and Brandon appeared, giving Taylor a quick wave and hello as his way of greeting his sister's best friend. He stopped next to her though, when he saw Chad.

"Holy shit, Taylor, don't tell me you're dating Chad Danforth!" Brandon said in surprise, causing the tall basketball player to laugh.

"I'm—" Taylor started to tell him that she was in no way involved with the tall, dark, and handsome man standing by the stairs, but Chad cut her off.

"I've been trying to persuade her to go out with me, but she won't. I'm just here to visit Troy," Chad said. "I'm sorry to come without notice."

"Don't be sorry," Mrs. Montez said with a smile. "All are welcome at the Montez house. Trust me, I just had a hundred people over the other day, two guests are easy to handle."

"Ooh, how did the reunion go?" Taylor asked, sitting down next to Mr. Montez, who patted her on the arm as his way of saying I've-missed-seeing-you-around-welcome-back.

"Better than normal. Everyone loved Troy," Mrs. Montez boasted, smiling over at her daughter's boyfriend, who returned her comment with a smile of his own.

"I take it Gabriella has a huge family," Chad said to Troy quietly, so that the rest of the family could talk about the family reunion together.

"Thirty eight cousins," Troy whispered back as he and Chad leaned against the deck railing, facing the family.

Chad made a face, indicating he thought that was a huge number of cousins.

"That must have been a shock to you," Chad said, knowing that it would have been a huge shock to him as well since he didn't have a big family either.

"Oh yeah, and somehow I remember everyone by name," Troy added.

"That's because you have a photographic memory," Chad said back, jealous of his friend's gift.

"No one has to know my secret," Troy laughed.

As Troy and Chad finished their short conversation, Mrs. Montez was recruiting the girls to come into the kitchen and help with dinner so that the guys could have somewhere to sit, and so they could talk to Chad about basketball.

Taylor, Gabriella, and Mrs. Montez were in the kitchen minutes later, chopping up ingredients and mixing together spices and other things needed to make their dinner. Mrs. Montez shut the window that looked out into the backyard so that they could talk without being eavesdropped on by the guys, although they did have a good distraction outside.

"He goes 'what's your favorite TV show, because you look Lost'," Taylor said with an eye roll once they were talking about her encounter at the airport with Chad.

"He didn't!" Gabriella laughed. "That's so corny!"

"Looks to me like it worked because he's sitting in my backyard," Mrs. Montez smiled, sending a teasing look over to Taylor.

"Yeah, well, the lawyer in me told him he better back off before I sued him for verbal assault," Taylor answered, looking up with a shrug while chopping up onions.

"We all know you wouldn't have done that," Gabriella said while setting the large kitchen table.

"No, but he didn't know that," Taylor said with a laugh. "He started pleading his case the second I opened my mouth after he came up to me. Of course, he started telling me that his basketball career would be over if I went through with it, yadayada…."

"You're terrible," Mrs. Montez laughed, shaking her head. "His whole life probably flashed through his head."

"I bet it did, because we talked all about it on the plane ride here," Taylor told them.

"Anything interesting?" Gabriella asked.

"He's been best friends with Troy since he was in high school. Did you know his parents were Troy's foster parents in high school until he was eighteen?" Taylor asked.

Thankfully since Troy and Gabriella spent a day telling each other about their lives, this didn't come as a surprise to Gabriella because he told her all about it, but Mrs. Montez was clearly caught off guard.

"Foster parents? Why on earth was Troy in foster care?" Mrs. Montez asked, looking over at Taylor, then at her daughter.

"I don't know," Taylor shrugged, looking over at Gabriella.

"His parents died when he was a kid," Gabriella shrugged, arranging the silverware on the napkins by each plate. "And I'm sure he wouldn't want me talking about it."

"Poor guy," Taylor commented. "It must have been tough coming here and seeing your huge family when he never had one."

"I think I'm going to cry," Mrs. Montez said dramatically, but when Gabriella looked over at her, she did look sad. She went back to stirring the home made chicken noodle soup in the pot on the stove, shaking her head. "You better treat that boy nice."

"I don't plan on treating him any differently than the way I have," Gabriella said, going over to the kitchen island to grab the glasses that were grouped together in the center, ready to be put on the table.

"And don't break his heart either. He's apparently had enough of that," Mrs. Montez added.

"Don't worry, Mom, I'm not planning on breaking anyone's heart," Gabriella replied.

"You said the same thing when you were dating Kyle, and we both know how that turned out," Mrs. Montez said.

Gabriella looked up at her mom from setting the glasses on the kitchen table, and Taylor's face was now covered with an awkward look, her eyebrows raised because she knew what Mrs. Montez was referring to.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabriella asked, coming around from the kitchen table, looking at her mom with a pissed expression on her face.

"I'm just reminding you that you dumped Kyle, remember? And he walked around town for weeks hurting because of it," Mrs. Montez said, noticing her daughter's angry face, but didn't feel bad for bringing it up.

"Thanks a lot, Mom," Gabriella said, heading for the back door.

"Gabs…" Taylor started, but trailed off because she knew that when Kyle was brought up, feelings always seemed to be hurt.

Gabriella shut the door behind her once she was on the deck and took a deep breath to rid herself of some anger before stepping over to the table of guys, sitting down on the arm of Troy's chair.

"You okay?" Troy asked her as the rest of the guys talked intently with Chad. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her onto his lap with ease, which resulted in Gabriella wrapping her arm over his shoulders.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Gabriella said, squinting because of the sun.

"Liar," Troy smirked in a whisper, going on to comment on something that Brandon said, leaving Gabriella sitting comfortably on his lap.

Gabriella sat without saying anything while the guys talked as she waited for dinner to be ready. She knew she shouldn't be mad at her mom for blaming her for dumping Kyle since she didn't know the actual truth, but the fact that she was still blaming her after all of this time, didn't make Gabriella happy at all.

She knew that her mom loved Kyle like a son-in-law a few years back, and always talked about Gabriella and him going on to marrying each other one day, but she liked Troy now too, so she should stop thinking about the past.

Although, Troy really wasn't Gabriella's boyfriend, and there wouldn't be a future with them at all, so defending herself was only counter productive. After Troy and Gabriella _broke their relationship off_, her mom would start bringing up the past all over again, so there was no point in trying to get her mom to stop.

Whatever, she thought. Dinner was ready.

...

"Let's walk and talk," Chad suggested, putting his arm around Gabriella's shoulder, while holding a water bottle in his opposite hand. They were outside, watching as the sky faded into night, but they were currently not talking to anyone, since Taylor and Troy were in a deep conversation about Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"What should we talk about?" Gabriella asked, putting her arm around his lean waist with a laugh.

"We should talk about Troy; since that's the reason we're both here, right?" Chad asked, turning so that they were now walking down the dirt road.

"Okay, let's talk about Troy," Gabriella nodded. "Where should we start?"

"Do you have any alterative motives with asking Troy to be here?" Chad asked boldly.

"Other than making my ex boyfriend jealous?" Gabriella asked.

"Yeah."

"No, that's the only reason I asked him to pretend to be my boyfriend. That, and to get my family off of my back when it came to being single or not," she answered.

"Here's the thing, Troy's my best friend, and whether he knows it or not, I have his best interest at heart, and I don't think that him pretending to be your boyfriend is a good idea… I don't think its right," Chad said.

Gabriella stopped, wiggling from his grasp so that she could see his face, seeing that he was serious once she could. She was shocked, clearly, and Chad noticed that as he gave her a sorry smile.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what to say," Gabriella said, somewhat speechless, she never thought someone would say it wasn't _right_.

"It's just that, I know Troy… better than most people, and I know that when it comes to his heart, he's not good at protecting it," Chad said.

"Chad, I'm not planning on breaking his heart, he's just _pretending_ to be my boyfriend."

"It doesn't matter," Chad said to her with a shrug, shaking his head to add emphasis. "Troy will still get attached to you, Gabriella, and when you don't need him around anymore, because your two weeks are up, you're going to tell him to leave, and it'll break his heart."

"Whoa, Chad, it's not going to be like that at all. I wouldn't just kick him out as if he meant nothing to me," Gabriella said.

Chad raised his eyebrows, picking up on something, but chose not to comment on it.

"Gabriella, Caitlyn is engaged to be married," Chad said quietly.

"To Troy?"

"To someone else." Chad said.

Gabriella blinked, watched his face for any sign of him trying to be funny, blinked again, and then put her hand to her forehead, and her other hand on her hip, looking at him with disbelief in her eyes. Her eyebrows creased in confusion, and she sighed and kicked the dirt road as her way if saying what-the-hell.

"How? I mean, when? When did you find this out?" Gabriella asked him.

"I found out after Troy left, but had no way of getting a hold of him. He turned his phone off, probably so that no one could tell him not to go to Maine. That's why when I found out that Troy was here after meeting Taylor I came here instead of to my commercial. Someone has to tell him," Chad explained.

"And you're going to? Tell him, I mean." Gabriella asked.

"I have to."

"Shouldn't you just let him go off to Maine and find out himself? He's going to blame you for not telling him sooner," she said to him, rubbing her forehead, sensing a headache.

"I don't want him to go all that way, only to bump into Caitlyn making out with her fiancée," Chad answered. "That would be bad."

"You should take him home with you when you leave, then," Gabriella said. "Tell him tonight, and then convince him to go home with you so that this situation is over and done with."

"That's what I would do if he wasn't pretending to be with you, Gabriella, that's what I mean when I say Troy is already attached to you," Chad explained. "He's doing you a huge favor after a minute of knowing you, and he'll think of you when I ask him to leave. He'll say no because you need him here."

Gabriella felt her stomach bubble with nervous energy. She felt like she was going to throw up, and she couldn't imagine what Troy was going to feel like when Chad told him.

"I'm going to throw up," Gabriella said suddenly, bending over to catch her breath, placing her hands on her bent knees.

"Whoa, shit."

Chad put his hand on her back, panicking obviously. His feet were jittery as he stood next to her, hoping that she wouldn't actually be sick.

"How can someone do something like that?" Gabriella asked Chad while looking down at the ground. "How can you be leading someone on and then agree to marry someone else without letting the other person know?"

"I'd like to know the answer to that myself," Chad answered.

"I hate her," Gabriella said to him, standing up straight once the wave of sickness left her.

"That was my reaction," Chad sighed.

"I don't know how I'm going to be able to face him after finding this out," Gabriella said. "I'm sorry about everything. I'm sorry that I pulled him into my life."

"Just when you let him down, let him down gently," Chad told her, giving her a sad smile, and leaving her be.

She watched him make his way up the driveway, and only moved out of the road when a car passed her. Chad really thought she was inevitably going to hurt Troy, but he had a good reason to think that the women in Troy's life, no matter how nice or caring they appeared, could do damage to his friend, and she couldn't blame him.

* * *

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**unknownbyhim22**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everyone! I'm so glad everyone is liking this story! I don't have much to say other than that, so Enjoy!**

* * *

Pick Me Up

Chapter ten

Gabriella and Taylor were in their pajama's and ready for a long night of girl talk since it had been a while since they last sat down and talked for hours. The window was open half way and the sound of the basketball that Troy and Chad were using could be heard hitting the pavement of the driveway. The girls were trying hard to come up with something to talk about, but they were both just sitting on Gabriella's bed, trying to see if they could hear the guys talking.

"Do you think Chad told him yet?" Taylor asked in a whisper.

"I think we'd hear screaming," Gabriella replied, not meaning to be humorous about the situation, but trying to make her feel better about knowing before Troy did.

"This is so nerve racking," Taylor said with a sigh.

"Imagine what Chad feels like right now. I'm sure he's not looking forward to crushing his best friend."

"What are you going to say to him after we leave?" Taylor asked Gabriella, stretching her legs out in front of her because they were cramping from being crossed underneath her.

"I have no idea," Gabriella admitted. "All I know is that I don't want to have to talk about it. I'm terrible at giving advice, definitely about being mad at someone. I hold grudges for forever."

"That reminds me, your mom would appreciate it if you talked to her," Taylor said with a laugh.

"She makes me feel like a villain whenever Kyle comes up," Gabriella said. "It makes me so mad."

"Then tell her the truth about your relationship with Kyle. Don't you get tired of holding back the truth?" Taylor asked. "I don't know how you do it, especially since you're lying about you and Troy too."

"That's a different situation, though," Gabriella said, trying to convince her that it actually was.

"If you say so," Taylor shrugged.

From the window, the boys' voices carried through the night air, and the girls quickly scurried to the window, squatting down on the floor so that they wouldn't be seen if the guys came towards the backyard.

"How long did you know this for, Chad, huh?" Troy's angry voice could be heard and Gabriella looked at Taylor nervously.

"I wanted to tell you sooner, but your phone was off…"

"Oh, so now it's my fault?"

On the driveway, Troy stood with the basketball underneath his arm and his face was scrunched in anger. Sweat dripped from his forehead and his shirt was now dark grey because of the perspiration coming from his skin. Chad stood with his hands on his hips, breathing deeply from their work out.

"None of this is your fault, Troy," Chad told him. "I just wanted to tell you before you went the rest of the way to Maine."

Troy shook his head, biting his cheek so that he couldn't feel the emotional pain he was feeling.

"So that's it? I'm just supposed to go home and pretend like nothing happened?" Troy asked. "This is so God damn ridiculous."

"I'm sorry."

"I can't believe this is happening to me," Troy said, looking up at the sky so that he didn't have to look at his friend in the eye because he knew that Chad would get him to pour out his feelings.

"You should just come home with me, Troy. That way you don't have to worry about finding a way back home," Chad suggested.

Troy shook his head.

"No," he said. "I promised Gabriella I would stay for two weeks."

"She'd understand if you left."

Troy took his eyes off of the sky and looked over at Chad. He looked like he was confident that Gabriella would understand, and that made Troy suspicious. Realization slowly sunk in and Troy's face filled with anger.

"You told her?" He exclaimed loudly. "You told Gabriella before you told me?"

"Come on, Troy…we were on a walk and we were talking about you, and I thought that I should tell her about Caitlyn so that she'd understand."

"Understand what?" Troy asked angrily.

"I don't know, so that she'd understand that making you pretend to be in a relationship with her wasn't right," Chad said, sighing.

"She's not making me, Chad. I agreed to help her, and what gives you the right to tell her about me?"

"I'm your best friend, Troy," Chad said, angry now. "I know things about you that you don't even know about yourself."

Troy laughed sarcastically, shaking his head.

"What do you know about me that I don't already know?" Troy asked.

"You get so attached to people so quickly. You have this weird assumption that you owe it to people to do them favors!"

"No, Chad, I just risk trusting people, that's it. I help people because no one ever helped me growing up, and I know how that feels," Troy said, sick to his stomach already.

"And look where that has gotten you, Troy. Caitlyn is getting _married_, and you're pretending to date Gabriella while she's still in love with her ex. You're going to get attached to her, and then she'll turn up engaged a few months later, don't you see the pattern?" Chad shouted.

"Go to hell, Chad," Troy said, chucking the basketball at him so hard that Chad grunted when he caught it right before it could hit him in the stomach.

Gabriella and Taylor sat on the floor next to the window with surprised looks on their faces.

"That wasn't good," Taylor said to Gabriella, worried that Troy would be mad at everyone around him, or at least to the ones who knew before he did.

"You're telling me," Gabriella sighed, shaking her head.

...

Taylor gave Gabriella an awkward look as they stood by the car that she came in. They had already put Chad and Taylor's luggage away in the trunk and were waiting for Chad before Taylor could leave.

Chad appeared from the backyard, his hands in his jean pockets while he made his slow and tired walk towards the girls.

"Did you find him?" Taylor asked.

"No, I didn't see him," Chad said, sighing as he slowed by them. "I guess we should leave before we miss our plane."

"Okay," Taylor nodded, giving him a supportive, but small smile. "Are you driving?"  
"Don't tell me you've had a change of heart and have decided to let me sit in the front," Chad teased, smiling.

"Don't make me change my mind, Danforth," Taylor said, dangling the keys in front of him. He took them, and looked at Gabriella.

"I guess this is goodbye," Chad said to her.

"How about we just say see you later, considering you're dating my best friend," she smirked.

"Don't encourage him, Gabriella. It'll be a long flight back," Taylor said, rolling her eyes at Chad who winked at her while hugging Gabriella goodbye.

Taylor gave Gabriella a tight hug before opening the passenger's side door. She rolled her window down as Chad came around to the driver's side.

"Will you tell him I'm sorry?" Chad asked Gabriella after opening the car door.

"Sure."

"I'll call you when we pick the wedding date," Chad said, laughing when Taylor grabbed him and pulled him into the car.

"Ch-ad. Stop," Taylor said in annoyance. "Don't make me get a restraining order."

"Bye!" Gabriella called after them as they pulled out the driveway, laughing at them because they were clearly now fighting about something as they drove away.

Gabriella sighed, watching the car until it was no longer visible. She turned around and looked at her house, wondering where Troy might be as she looked around her, noticing how green the pumpkin patch looked and how peaceful her house looked with the windows open and the curtains blowing in the wind.

"Have you seen Troy?" Gabriella asked when she entered the kitchen.

"Not since yesterday," Mrs. Montez said while Mr. Montez and Brandon said no in unison. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, Mom."  
"I'm sorry about what I said yesterday," Mrs. Montez said.

"Its fine," Gabriella said, grabbing an apple from the counter, and then opening the back door. "I'm going to look for Troy."

...

Gabriella stared up at her bedroom ceiling, trying to fall asleep. Her window was open, cooling her room down, and the lights in her room were turned off, leaving her in an almost completely darkened room. She hadn't found Troy when she went looking for him. She figured he had wandered into town and didn't want to be found, so after a while she had stopped looking for him.

Just as she was turning on her side to get in a more comfortable position, a dim light shined into her room, sending her leaping from her bed. She looked out her window, seeing the light coming from the barn, and she instantly left her room, tiptoeing downstairs and grabbing a sandwich that she had already made for Troy off of the kitchen counter before she went outside.

The barn door was cracked open slightly, and she shimmied through it, closing it completely once she was inside. Troy was lying on the stack of hay, staring up at the barn ceiling. She wasn't sure if he heard her come in, so she cleared her throat.

"I saw the light," she said, walking over to him and sitting down by his feet.

"I felt corny using it," he admitted, his voice was hoarse as if he hadn't used it in a while, or if he had, he wasn't quiet when using it.

"That's okay," Gabriella said quietly. "I brought you a sandwich. I thought you might be hungry."

"Thanks," Troy said, keeping his eyes towards the ceiling.

"You know, Chad wanted me to…"

"Let's not talk about him," Troy said, sitting up and leaning on his side, taking the sandwich that was wrapped in plastic wrap from the spot Gabriella set it. She watched as he unwrapped it, and took a bite.

"Maybe we should, considering it bugged you enough to disappear for more than twenty four hours," Gabriella suggested.

Troy didn't say anything, but gave her a look that said stop-talking-about-it.

"What do you want then?" Gabriella asked.

"I want all of this to be some kind of sick joke," Troy said angrily. "I don't want this to be true."

"I don't either. I think you deserve better," she answered.

Troy huffed out a laugh, like he thought the same thing, but didn't believe it enough to say out loud.

"I'm sick to my stomach about the entire situation."

"Did you see this coming at all?" Gabriella asked.

"Of course not," Troy said, looking down at the sandwich in his hand. "You know, she talked to me first at the wedding."

"You told me," Gabriella nodded, remembering him describing when he first met her when they had talked all day a few days back.

"I'm so mad," Troy told her, running his free hand through his hair, closing his eyes briefly. "I can't believe Chad told you first."

"I'm sorry…" Gabriella said. "I should have tried to stop him… I don't know."

"It's not your fault. None of it is."

"He said he was sorry. Chad did," Gabriella told him. "You can't be mad at him for not telling you because he had no way of reaching you, Troy."

"I know," Troy nodded, tossing the sandwich on the plastic wrap, losing his appetite. "I don't know who else to be mad at."

"Be mad at Caitlyn. Be mad at her because she didn't tell you that she didn't have feelings for you anymore and found someone else. That's enough reason to be mad at her for," Gabriella said. "Just don't stay mad for too long."

"Why can't I be mad for forever?" Troy asked. "I think I deserve the right to be."

"Maybe, but you'll make me sad."

Troy looked up at Gabriella, giving her a sad smile. He rubbed his eyes after a minute of looking at her, and sighed, plopping back down on his back.

"Everything will be okay, Troy. Trust me."

"How do you know?" Troy asked her, tilting his head to look at her.

"Because there was a time when I thought everything was going so badly that I thought I could never be happy again, or love again, but I don't feel that way anymore. I just told myself that it wasn't worth it anymore."

"But now you're trying to make the guy who made you feel so bad, jealous," Troy pointed out.

"You're right. I guess I shouldn't be giving you advice."

"Maybe we should both just move on now so that we don't have to spend anymore time dwelling on it."

"Maybe we should," Gabriella nodded, smiling softly. "You should get some sleep."

"Thanks for the pick me up," Troy said, sitting up when Gabriella stood up with a smile as her response.

He watched her leave, starring up at the ceiling when he was alone, wondering about how he was going to be able to forget Caitlyn and move on for good. A part of him wanted an explanation, while another part of him didn't want to waste another second being torn up about it. He left his thoughts at that as he drifted to sleep. Tomorrow would be another day, one that would be much better than this one.

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**unknownbyhim22**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey everyone! I can't believe that the next time I update I'll already be back to school! I really hate how fast time flys! But I'm sure you won't be able to wait for a week to pass, because this chapter leaves you hanging! haha Well, Enjoy!**

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Pick Me Up

Chapter eleven

When Mrs. Montez woke up the next morning, she was surprised to see both Brandon and Troy unpacking groceries in the kitchen. Looking at the clock on the wall, she raised her eyebrows. It was seven o'clock; way too early for a couple of young men to be up.

What she didn't know though was that her son recently developed a crush on one of the cashiers at the local supermarket and he got up extra early so that he could see her before she got busy. Unfortunately for Troy, he had been on his way to the bathroom when Brandon got up, and was recruited to help out.

Mrs. Montez spoke softly and slowly at first, hoping not to startle the occupied men with her sudden appearance.

"I hope you took the list," she said, walking over to the coffee maker, which was already boiling with her morning beverage.

"We did," Brandon nodded, scrunching together the few plastic bags that were used to carry groceries. "By the way, Uncle Bobby called me this morning and said he couldn't make it to the party."

Mrs. Montez rolled her eyes obviously, saying nothing as she sipped her coffee. The phone rang in the family room and Brandon left to answer it, leaving Troy and Mrs. Montez alone in the kitchen.

"Those flowers on the table are for you," Troy said to her after surfacing from behind the refrigerator door.

"You didn't have to get me flowers!" Mrs. Montez smiled as she walked towards the table, cupping a flower with her free hand and smelling it dreamingly.

"It was the least I could do after staying here for two weeks," Troy replied, taking a glass of orange juice off of the counter, one that he had poured himself earlier. He took a sip, and smiled at her.

"You're wonderful," Mrs. Montez said, running her hand over the flowers, admiring them. "It's going to be sad to see you and Gabriella go."

"It will be," Troy agreed, nodding.

Mrs. Montez shook her head as if trying to shake out the thought of him leaving out of her mind.

"You should wake Gabriella up. Maybe the two of you can do something together before the Forth of July party," Mrs. Montez suggested.

"Sure," Troy said, turning towards the hallway leading towards the foyer stairs.

"Don't shake her when you wake her up. She'll probably hit you. Be gentle," Mrs. Montez laughed quietly.

"Thanks for the advice," Troy smiled, walking out of the kitchen.

Troy slowly opened Gabriella's bedroom door after an encounter with Mr. Montez on the staircase, which ended with Mr. Montez warning Troy not to be in Gabriella's room for too long.

The sound of the outside floated through the open window as Troy walked over to Gabriella's small twin sized bed. She was wearing a baggy t-shirt that had a university's logo on it, but the letters were faded, and from where Troy stood, he couldn't read it.

He stood beside her for a long drawn out minute, mesmerized by her peacefulness as she slept. After catching himself starring, Troy bent down and moved her hair off of her face, pushing it so that it rested on her back.

She didn't budge and stayed sleeping on her side until she felt Troy kiss her on the forehead. Her eyes opened immediately, bringing her attention to the wall she was facing, but when she saw Troy's arm next to her, she started to turn on her back.

"Morning," Gabriella said with a surprised look on her face as she looked up into Troy's eyes. He had an arm on either side of her and smiled when she did.

"Good morning. Your mom said to wake you up gently or else you'd probably hit me," Troy explained, removing his arms from next to her, sitting by her side instead of leaning over her.

"What time is it?" Gabriella asked even as she stretched to see her alarm clock on her nightstand.

"Seven thirty," Troy answered.

"Why are we up so early?" Gabriella groaned, pushing her face against her pillow in hopes of falling asleep instantly.

"Because your mom figured we could do something together before the party," Troy explained.

"And what would that be?" Gabriella asked.

"Beats me. You're the one who knows your way around this town," Troy said teasingly as he walked towards the door to leave.

"We can go out for breakfast," Gabriella said while turning on her side again, but this time so that she was facing him.

"I'll time you to see how fast you can get ready," Troy said from the doorway. "If you're ready in less that fifteen minutes, I'll pay, but if not…"

"I better fish some money out of my sock drawer," Gabriella smirked, closing her eyes and not opening them again until she was sure that Troy was gone. When she saw that he wasn't around, she got up quickly to see if she could get ready in less than fifteen minutes. She figured she'd save some money and let Troy pay.

...

"This is my last ten bucks so you better enjoy that bagel," Troy said as they sat down at a small table next to a large window that belonged to a diner that sat in the center of the town. "How'd you get ready so fast?"

Gabriella laughed, satisfied that she didn't have to pay for her breakfast and because she had shocked Troy when she came into the kitchen looking perfect in a white sun dress in under fifteen minutes.

"A woman never reveals her beauty secrets," Gabriella answered, taking a bite of her bagel. "Want some?"

Gabriella held out her bagel with another laugh, seeing that Troy wasn't amused. He was currently drinking water because her bagel and coffee cost him exactly ten dollars.

"Thanks, but I'm enjoying my water, I wouldn't want to ruin the taste by taking a bite of your bagel."

Troy eyed her and she gave him a playful smile as she chewed on her bagel. Outside, people passed by on bikes and some were pushing strollers or walking hand in hand. But all of the passing people were barely noticed by the two who sat at the window because they were too caught up talking to each other.

The owner of the diner stood behind the counter, refilling coffees that belonged to the people eating at the counter. He watched as Gabriella threw her head back with laughter and noticed how the guy she was with watched her closely when she did. He hadn't seen the two together before, but he had seen the boy walking around occasionally.

There was something about the way they talked that had the man wondering how long they knew each other because their conversation didn't seem forced at all. Even though he thought they seemed happy, he couldn't help but glance over at the wall behind him, where pictures of customers hung in frames so that he could remember all of the people who ever ate at his place. There was a picture of Gabriella and Kyle right above the coffee maker, causing him to remember that Gabriella had done some heart breaking in her past.

A waitress walked out of the kitchen with a plate of food and made her way towards Troy and Gabriella. The owner watched as the conversation stopped when the waitress appeared at their table.

"New customers eat free," the waitress told Troy, setting a plate of eggs and hash browns in front of him. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Are you sure?" He asked, looking over at Gabriella, who shrugged.

"Yup, all you have to do is pose for a picture," the waitress explained, pulling out a disposable camera from her apron. She snapped a quick picture of Troy, who wasn't expecting it. He looked at the woman with a confused expression on his face as she walked away.

"So, uh," Troy started after he took a bite of his food. "How's the bagel?"

He laughed as Gabriella stuck her tongue out at him because his breakfast looked much better than hers. He tapped on the ketchup bottle in his hand so that a red pool formed on his plate next to the hash browns, and looked over at Gabriella who smiled at him.

"Ketchup?" She asked.

"It's the best addition to a breakfast," Troy explained, taking a bite of his food.

Gabriella shrugged, looking out the window without commenting on his weird eating habits. There was little going on around town. There was a mother and her two kids sitting on a bench while eating ice cream and Gabriella wondered if that was the best choice for a breakfast. The sun was bright and everyone outside was wearing sunglasses. When the door to the diner opened, Gabriella heard the faint sound of a lawn mower roaring on. When she looked further beyond the ice cream eaters, she saw Kyle mowing the small patches of lawn that sat in front of the many stores and businesses. He was shirtless, which didn't surprise her, and his muscles tightened as he curved around trees and bushes.

"How are the lawns looking?" Troy asked, having noticed Brandon earlier when he was cutting lawn behind Gabriella's view.

"What?" Gabriella asked quickly, taking her eyes off of the outside activity. "Oh… they look fine."

Troy nodded, setting his fork down since he was finished with his meal. He set a wrinkled ten dollar bill on the table and stood from his seat.

"Ready?" he asked, holding out his hand for her to take it.

She did before waving goodbye to the owner of the diner. They walked out of the diner, hearing the bells tied to the door chime as it closed behind them. Gabriella wrapped her hand around Troy's arm as she leaned against his shoulder, and he kissed her on the top of her head, noticing how close they were getting to Kyle on their way to Gabriella's car.

Kyle had his back to them as they were passing him and without having to think twice about it, Troy and Gabriella ran quickly down the sidewalk, laughing as they turned the corner so that they were out of his view. They escaped to Gabriella's car that was parked in front of the corner store and started their drive home.

...

When Gabriella and Troy got home, Brandon was edging the lawn and Mr. Montez stood in the backyard, laughing as his wife ordered him around. He seemed to be enjoying setting up for the party and he was wearing a buttoned up shirt that looked as if he was wrapped in an American flag. Gabriella groaned when she saw her dad's clothing choice once she was out of the car and standing on the driveway.

"I thought my mom got rid of that shirt," Gabriella said, realizing now that her dad was most likely helping with the party set up because he had gotten in trouble for wearing the shirt. Mrs. Montez was embarrassed that her husband liked to walk around looking completely unfashionable, but used that to her advantage, insisting that since he was so patriotic, that he'd have to help her with the party.

"It's not that bad," Troy laughed, walking up the driveway with Gabriella, who gave him a you're-kidding-me look. "Trust me, I've seen bad. Chad dyed his hair red, white and blue one Forth of July."

"I guess I'm glad my dad didn't go that far," Gabriella answered, opening the door leading into the garage from the house, and stepping inside.

Troy looked at the clock on the wall in the family room, noticing that it was getting late and he still needed a shower.

"I'm going to get ready," Troy said to Gabriella. "I'll be back in a little bit."

"Okay," Gabriella smiled, making her way towards the kitchen, letting Troy go upstairs without another word.

...

Troy skipped down the stairs after hearing a knock on the front door. A group of people stood on the porch, but none of them were unfamiliar to him. Gabriella's Aunt Karen and family were there, holding bowls of fruit, and luckily for him, none of them had coats this time around. He opened the door, letting the group in as they all talked at once.

"Ignore the kids," Aunt Karen said to Troy. "They're mad because they're not allowed to light any of the fireworks."

"Okay," Troy said with a laugh.

"Where is my sister, Troy, honey, I'm telling her that she needs to fix that broken doorbell. We were standing out there for a good thirty seconds," she said.

"She's in the back. Just set everything on the kitchen island when you walk past it," Troy told her, gesturing hello to Gabriella's Uncle.

Serena walked in before Troy could close the door and she fluffed her long hair briefly as he closed the door behind her. She looked at him, and he could barely look her in the eye because he could only picture her making out with Kyle.

"You look patriotic," Troy said, pointing to her blood red dress. He wondered if she had come directly from a Victoria's Secrets store because her dress did little to cover her body.

"Thanks, Troy," Serena said, causing the hair on the back of Troy's neck to rise because of the way she said his name. She sounded evil.

"Wow, Serena, the least you could have done was put some clothes on," Bethany said as she came down the stairs with Gabriella. She was wearing a blue dress and since Gabriella was wearing a white dress, the three girls completed each other in the sense that they were in red, white and blue.

"And look like you two? No thanks," Serena said, rolling her eyes. "I have a reputation to uphold and starting to look conservative now will damage it."

"God, if wearing that is upholding her reputation, I don't want to know what she's known for," Gabriella said to Bethany under her breath as they neared the end of the stairs and stood by Troy.

"Speak up, Gabriella, I can't hear you," Serena said, glaring at Gabriella.

"Now, ladies, let's try to be cordial," Troy said. "There's no need to ruin a good party."

"Oh, Troy," Serena said, patting him on the shoulder. "Here's a little tip for you, put a bunch of girls in a room, and there will be a cat fight, and Gabriella over here really is as innocent as she looks, so if you want to have some fun…" she ran her finger along his chest and Gabriella gasped while Bethany pulled her sister down the hallway before she could make another move on Troy.

"Are you drunk?" Bethany exclaimed at her sister as they went into the kitchen.

Troy and Gabriella stood in the foyer with their mouths open in shock. Troy looked over at Gabriella, putting his hands on his hips.

"Did she just…"

"Yeah, she did," Gabriella nodded, shaking her head. "If this is any indication of how this night is going to be, I think we should run away now before we witness anything else."

"After you," Troy said, opening the front door, but just as they were about to make a break for it, more of Gabriella's aunts, uncles, and cousins came up the walkway, resulting in Troy and Gabriella sticking around instead of running away.

...

Cakes lined with blueberries and strawberries sat on the patio table and American flags poked out from bowls of chip dip and club sandwiches. A cooler sat open by the door leading into the kitchen and it was filled to the top with Coca Cola, Pepsi, and beer that was held in white cans.

Troy stood poking at meat on the grill after being recruited by the Montez men to be the one to watch the meat. A privilege; according to Brandon, who was happy not to be on meat duty.

Gabriella sat on the deck ledge, laughing as her uncles told jokes while eating food from the table on the deck. Troy's hand rested on her knee, making sure that she didn't fall backwards and plummet to her death.

Below on the lawn, Brandon sat with the cashier who was usually seen at the grocery store, but now she was being grilled by the many women surrounding her. She seemed excited to be there though, and Troy was happy not to be the one who was the center of the family's attention.

Bethany was sitting with her sister at a table with a few of her cousins. After hitting on Troy, Serena couldn't be trusted alone and Bethany assured Gabriella that she'd keep a watchful eye on her cleavage-showing sister.

Mrs. Montez appeared from the kitchen with a camera in her hand, one she promised she'd get out for the get together and the first people she was out to get a picture of were Troy and Gabriella.

"Alright you two smile so I can take a picture," Mrs. Montez said, waiting until Troy was leaning against the deck ledge next to Gabriella and when Gabriella was paying attention. She snapped a picture of the two and looked at the screen that showed the picture as Troy and Gabriella went back to what they were doing before being asked to take a picture.

In the picture, Troy's arm sat securely over Gabriella's bent legs, and Gabriella had her arm linked under Troy's arm, and each of them had giant smiles on their faces, squinting slightly from the sun. In any case, it was a good picture, causing Mrs. Montez to smile, glad to have a good keep sake of the two.

Mrs. Montez scurried around the backyard taking pictures of her family and friends as if trying not to leave out any moment or person. Troy and Gabriella watched from the deck, Gabriella now standing on the deck next to Troy.

"Pretty soon we'll be leaving," Gabriella said, propping her chin in her palm as her elbow rested on the ledge of the deck.

"You're right," Troy replied, not sure if he wanted to get into this particular conversation just yet.

"We might never see each other again after this, you know," Gabriella commented, watching as a few of her younger cousins walked towards the deck stairs, a jump rope dragging behind them.

"You never know," Troy shrugged. "Tomorrow you could be transferred to Albuquerque General Hospital and you'll have to stay with me until you find a place to live. There's a world of possibilities," he said this with a smile, bringing her in for a side hug that lasted until they heard Gabriella's name.

"We need another person to Double Dutch," Melanie, Gabriella's thirteen year old cousin, explained. "Will you play with us?" she asked.

"Of course," Gabriella smiled. "What would Double Dutch be without a pro like me?"

The girls smiled as Gabriella walked down the deck stairs with them, and Troy watched them until they disappeared around the corner on the driveway.

Gradually, people stopped by the grill for a hamburger or hotdog, and Troy would gladly serve them while keeping a conversation going. He enjoyed people watching when no one was ready to eat and even as the sky grew darker, he stayed on the deck. It wasn't until Mr. Montez came to relieve him when he finally got a break.

"I think you're going to have to watch the kids with the sparklers," Mr. Montez had said, taking Troy's spot by the grill without hesitation.

Minutes later, Troy was handing a sparkler over to one of Gabriella's cousins who was too afraid to light the sparkler herself. Bethany and Gabriella were twirling and laughing with the rest of the kids while waving around their own sparklers. Troy watched with a smile and Mrs. Montez took pictures constantly.

"Makes you want to be a kid again, huh?" Brandon said as he stopped next to Troy.

"Yeah," Troy agreed. "Except when I was a kid there were definitely not this many people around."

Brandon replied with a chuckle, knowing that the size of his family was abnormal to most people.

"How's Vivian?" Troy asked, wondering if Brandon was still swooning over the cashier.

"Great," Brandon said with a smile. "Everyone seems to like her. What a relief."

"Yeah," Troy laughed. "Just imagine how relieved she is."

Troy remembered how he had felt once he knew Gabriella's family liked him when they all first met, only the difference was that Brandon and Vivian were actually starting to get to know each other and Gabriella and Troy had been faking it from day one.

"Yeah, well, I came over here to warn you that Kyle just got here," Brandon said. "I don't know why my mom keeps inviting him to these things."

"Maybe she's not," Troy said quietly, eyeing Serena who was casually looking around the backyard.

"I can't believe she's family," Brandon said as he too watched Serena. He shook his head and left Troy alone, leaving to find Vivian.

"Hey, Troy, the fireworks are starting soon," Gabriella said as she weaved through the group of kids with sparklers. "You might want to hide the sparklers now."

"Okay, I'll meet you here after I put everything away," Troy replied, boxing up the leftover sparklers and blowing out the candles used to ignite them.

Gabriella nodded with an excited smile on her face and went with the kids to collect blankets so that they could all lay on the ground during the fireworks.

Troy tucked the boxes of sparklers under his arm as he walked towards the garage solo, stopping on the driveway when he saw Kyle walking away from the porch.

"Is the doorbell still broken?" Kyle asked casually.

"Yeah," Troy nodded.

"Geez, it's been that way since Gabriella and I were in high school," Kyle replied.

"Long time," Troy said uninterested.

"Look, I'm sorry that we got off on the wrong foot the last time we saw each other," Kyle said.

"There's no point in apologizing," Troy said. "I'm dating your ex-girlfriend. It's bound to get awkward."

"Gabriella must have told you a bunch of stuff to make me look bad, because it's obvious that you can barely look at me," Kyle said, watching as Troy set the things he was carrying down on the driveway next to the garage.

"Actually, she didn't have to tell me anything, you did a good job letting me know yourself. After all, you are sleeping with Serena," Troy said, putting his hands on his hips with a pissed expression.

"Lets not get jealous, Troy-boy," Kyle smirked.

...

From her spot on the navy blue blanket spread across the lawn, Gabriella could see Troy and Kyle talking, which was starting to worry her. She didn't mind that they were talking, but she couldn't help but notice Troy's body language. The last time she saw him standing with his hands on his hips while scrunching his forehead together with anger was when Chad told Troy about Caitlyn, and that hadn't gone well.

Troy's face changed into one filled with surprise and shock, and the next thing Gabriella knew, Troy was punching Kyle, and she was leaping up off of the ground as her brother, and a few of her uncles started breaking up the fight.

When she finally got there her brother was shoving Troy into the house as Kyle swore and lunged at him. Gabriella was breathing so hard that she thought she might be hyperventilating, but as she saw the expressions on her family member's faces, she realized she was just embarrassed.

"Kyle!" She shouted, marching over to her ex-boyfriend, who had a bloody lip, one that suited him perfectly. "Get out of here!"

She had his shirt bunch up in her fist and pulled him away from her uncles and brothers down the driveway as he tried to explain himself to her.

"Shut up, Kyle, please," Gabriella said with tears in her eyes, seeing the crowd forming at the top of the driveway. "Don't come back here, ever."

"Come on, Gabriella, aren't you going to patch me up? It's the least you could do after your boyfriend attacked me!"

Gabriella slapped him hard across his cheek, hearing a few murmurs and gasps from her family.

"I'm off duty," she said to him. "Don't make me send my brother after you, because we both know he'd like to finish the job."

Gabriella pushed Kyle away from her, further down the driveway and turned towards her family, walking up the driveway while trying to keep tears of embarrassment from falling. Serena was power walking in the opposite direction, but Gabriella barely noticed as her family started talking all at once. She walked past them though, through the garage, opening the door. She had a few things to say to Troy Bolton.

* * *

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**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey everyone! Wow! This week went by pretty slow to me! The first day of school was probably the worst I've ever had (there's a road that's closed on the way to school, so now it takes a half hour to get there instead of just ten minutes... unfortuantly on the first day, we didn't know that, and we came face to face with a construction zone. Not. Fun.). But anyways, I hope you all like this chapter, I think everyone has been hoping for a chapter like this. Enjoy!**

* * *

Pick Me Up

Chapter twelve

Troy was sitting on the stairs by the front door, looking out the screen door at the front yard and driveway. He had watched Gabriella slap Kyle, and he shook his head as he thought about what he did. When he heard the garage door slam shut, he knew Gabriella was looking for him, but when she saw him on the stairs, she looked surprised, as if she had just wanted to escape upstairs without anymore confrontation.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Gabriella asked quietly, standing motionless across from Troy.

Troy stood from the stairs so that he didn't feel like he was being towered over by Gabriella. He ran his hand over his eyes, stressed already about the situation.

"I was thinking that Kyle is an idiot," Troy replied, seeing Gabriella get angrier when she didn't hear an apology or any response that indicated he was feeling bad.

"Troy! You punched him in front of a bunch of kids. Did you not think about where you were?" Gabriella asked.

"Honestly, no," Troy said to her with a shake of his head. "I was only thinking about how Kyle deserved to get the crap beat out of him."

"I don't think he deserved that, Troy. At least not in front of everyone."

"Do you hear yourself, Gabriella?" Troy said angrily. "You're still defending him."

"Why shouldn't I?" Gabriella asked. "What did he say to you that made you so mad?"

"I'm not telling you," Troy said.

"What are we, five years old? Tell me what he said," Gabriella demanded.

"I don't care how many times you ask me, but I'm not telling you what he said. All I can say is I'm glad you're not with him anymore because he doesn't have any respect for you at all."

"You can tell all of that from one conversation?" Gabriella asked.

"This wasn't our first conversation," Troy told her.

Gabriella seemed to glare at him from her spot by the front door. Troy shrugged when he saw the look she was sending him, but wasn't phased by it.

"When did you talk to him for the first time?"

Troy hesitated for a minute, wondering if he should tell Gabriella the truth, and since he wasn't going to reveal any of their conversation, he knew that telling the truth would be the only way to finally make Gabriella realize that Kyle wasn't a good guy.

"Your brother and I ran into him at your family reunion making out with Serena in the garage," Troy told her.

Gabriella's face drained of color and she looked down at the ground, running her hand through her hair.

"Please tell me you're lying," Gabriella said to him quietly, making Troy feel guilty already.

"I wish I was," Troy said. "But he's been with Serena for as long as he's been with you."

From outside, fireworks could be heard, but neither of them was up for seeing any fireworks since celebrating wasn't close to what they were doing.

"Don't tell me that," Gabriella said sadly. "Please."

She moved past him towards the stairs, stepping on the first step.

"I'm sorry, Gabriella, but you need to hear this, because you're still in love with this guy."

"Not anymore," Gabriella said, walking up the stairs.

"Gabriella, wait…"

"Go home, Troy. I'm done."

Gabriella didn't turn around when she said this because she feared that seeing Troy's reaction would have sent her over the edge. She simply kept walking towards her room, hearing the fireworks over head. The colorful light flickered into her room as she locked the door behind her.

...

Gabriella didn't know what to do. She was currently sitting on her bedroom floor, leaning up against her bed while looking out the window. There was a knock on the door, but she didn't move. She didn't want to talk to anyone or to explain herself.

"It's Brandon."

Except to maybe her brother. She sighed, standing up and walking over to the door. She unlocked it and let her brother in, shutting it and locking it again.

"Why don't you come out and watch the fireworks?" Brandon asked, sitting down on his sister's bed.

Gabriella shook her head, sitting on her desk chair. There was no way she was going out of her room until it was morning, and there wasn't a yard full of people outside wondering about her.

"I don't feel like it," Gabriella said.

"What's going on, Gabs?" Brandon asked, looking at his sister with concern.

"Troy just punched Kyle," Gabriella said slowly, wondering why her brother didn't seem so freaked out about the situation.

"So what," Brandon said, causing Gabriella to laugh quietly to herself.

"He shouldn't have punched him."

"I'm glad he did, I hate Kyle," Brandon said with a shrug. "I would have done the same thing."

"You talked to Troy, didn't you?" Gabriella asked.

"Maybe," Brandon shrugged, not giving his sister a direct answer. "So what happened? Did you break up with Troy? He seemed pretty upset."

Gabriella sent Brandon a glare similar to the one she had sent Troy earlier.

"We're not dating," she said quietly, rubbing her forehead with her hand because she could feel a headache coming as the fireworks got louder.

"So you broke up with him?" Brandon asked.

"No, Brandon, we were never dating."

Brandon waited a few seconds, hoping that his sister would explain because he was currently confused and wondering if this was some kind of girl code he would have to decipher.

"You've got to say more than that, sis."

"Two weeks ago, I met Troy on the side of the road twenty minutes away from here," Gabriella said.

Brandon squinted, still not understanding.

"I asked him to pretend to be my boyfriend until I went back home so that I could avoid the usual harassment from mom about being single. I also asked him to pretend to be my boyfriend to make Kyle jealous," Gabriella explained.

"So let me get this straight. Troy, a twenty some year old guy agreed to go out with you out of the goodness of his heart?" Brandon asked. "No guy does that."

"Well, he needed a favor from me in return," Gabriella answered.

"Ew, Gabs, don't continue if this gets R-rated," Brandon said, bracing himself for what was to come.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, continuing.

"He needed me to drive him to Maine when the two weeks were up to meet a girl there, who he had known for a while…"

"Oh," Brandon said, somewhat disappointedly. "So, he's actually with someone else?"

"He was until recently. When Chad came here, he told Troy that the girl in Maine was engaged to be married to someone else. Troy only stayed because he wanted to keep his promise to me," Gabriella said.

"This is weird, Gabriella. Like lifetime-movie weird. Are you even sure that Troy's not a serial killer?"

"Do you think if he was, we'd still be here?" Gabriella sighed.

Brandon was quiet for a minute, observing his sister, who was picking at a loose string on her dress.

"Has it been two weeks, yet?" Brandon asked.

"Two weeks tomorrow," Gabriella nodded. "He'll be gone then."

"Are you driving him home? You promised, right?" Brandon asked.

"I got him a one way ticket to Albuquerque for tomorrow morning."

"Ah, man, that's soon," Brandon said, realizing that he'd probably miss the guy once he was gone, even though he tried not to get attached to him from the beginning. Troy ended up being a good friend, and clearly he wasn't a serial killer.

Gabriella stayed quiet as she shrugged, still looking down at her dress so that she wouldn't have to look over at Brandon.

"Did you fall in love with him?" Brandon asked.

"Of course not," Gabriella said quickly, too quickly in Brandon's opinion. He eyed her, sensing that his sister was lying to him. "Don't tell mom about this, okay? I'll tell her when he's gone."

"Okay," Brandon said, getting up from the bed. "Are you sure you don't want to come outside?"

"I'm sure," Gabriella nodded.

Brandon didn't try to get her to change her mind as he walked towards the door and unlocked it. He gave her a soft smile when he opened the door, and stopped in the doorway before he left.

"Can I be honest with you for a second?" Brandon asked.

"Go ahead," Gabriella replied.

"I think that you and Troy both fell in love with each other during this time. I just don't think you could have fooled all of us for this long if you hadn't," Brandon said, leaving Gabriella alone after that, closing the door behind him.

Gabriella felt her face start to contort in the I'm-about-to-cry kind of way and even with her efforts to keep the tears in her eyes, they managed to slip by and fall down her cheeks. Not even the fireworks could keep her happy enough to stop them. They just muffled her sobs as she set her head on her knees, hoping that the sound would last long enough for her to make herself stop.

...

Mrs. Montez stood in the laundry room, spying out the small window above the sink so that she could see Troy and Gabriella on the driveway. She had a bad feeling that they weren't together anymore after Troy had punched Kyle, because Gabriella didn't come down for breakfast, and Brandon was the one driving Troy to the airport.

She had stuck the picture she had taken of Troy and Gabriella in Troy's bag before he went outside, and Troy didn't seem to mind, although he had been sad when she told him he could come back anytime.

Gabriella watched from the top of the driveway as Brandon got in the drivers seat after Troy threw his bag in the trunk. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she had sunglasses on even though it was partially cloudy, and the sun was currently covered by a cloud.

Troy was debating with himself if he should talk to Gabriella and after a quick word with Brandon he was walking towards her, hands in his jean pockets. He was wearing the grey sweatshirt he wore the first time they met, which made Gabriella sadder as he stopped in front of her.

"You got the ticket, right?" Gabriella asked, glancing at his face briefly.

"Yeah, it's in my bag," Troy replied.

They both stood there, nodding awkwardly because they didn't know what to say. Gabriella didn't have much to say, and Troy had too much to say, but didn't have the time to say it.

"Thank you for helping me," Gabriella said, finally working up enough strength to look him in the eyes. She breathed in a shaky breath and he nodded again.

"It was an adventure, that's for sure," Troy said, smiling softly.

"You should probably get going, you don't want to miss your flight," Gabriella said quickly.

"Okay," Troy nodded. "If you're ever in Albuquerque, look me up."

"I will," Gabriella forced a smile, knowing she was lying.

Troy hugged her, catching her off guard, but once she realized that this might be the last time she might see him, she returned the hug, setting her cheek on his strong shoulder as he lifted her off of the ground slightly. She could feel her chest shake with sadness, and she let go of him before she could cry. He smiled at her, turning towards the car without saying anything else.

...

Mrs. Montez was folding laundry when Gabriella walked inside. She was sitting on the couch, starting a pile of t-shirts on the coffee table. Gabriella let out a long breath and wiped at her eyes before her mom could accuse her of crying.

"I'm surprised you didn't want to go to the airport with Troy," Mrs. Montez said. "Are you seeing him once you get home?"

"Troy lives in New Mexico, Mom," Gabriella said.

Mrs. Montez looked at her daughter in confusion. When she first talked to Troy he said they had met at a coffee shop after Gabriella accidentally spilt coffee on him when she was in a hurry to get to work.

"Did you meet when you worked at Albuquerque General Hospital?" Mrs. Montez asked.

"No, mom," Gabriella said with a shake of her head as she sat on the arm rest of the couch. "I met Troy two weeks ago after I saw him walking on the side of the road on my way here."

"Excuse me?" Mrs. Montez said, wondering if her daughter expected her to believe this wild story.

"I didn't want you and all of the women in this family to whine about me being single still, so I asked him to pretend to be my boyfriend for two weeks."

"Are you trying to tell me that you've been lying to your family for two weeks?" Mrs. Montez asked.

"Yeah, that's what I'm telling you," Gabriella nodded.

"And you thought it was a good idea to bring a stranger into this house? What if he was some kind of psycho?" Mrs. Montez said angrily. "No, I don't believe this."

Mrs. Montez stood up from the couch, tossing an unfolded shirt at Gabriella, who caught it right before it hit her in the chest. Mrs. Montez's hands went to her hips instantly as she looked at her daughter.

"I'm telling the truth, Mom, I'm sorry," Gabriella said. "I know that everyone got attached to Troy, I just didn't want to have to be the family outcast anymore."

"I'm sorry that you felt like you had to pretend to be something you weren't just to feel comfortable around this family, but lying to all of us isn't acceptable, Gabriella Amanda Montez."

"I know," Gabriella nodded.

"You better have apologized to that boy a million times out on that driveway," Mrs. Montez said angrily. "I told you not to break his heart, but you went and did it anyway."

"Mom, we were just pretending to be together."

Mrs. Montez shook her head, wondering what her daughter was thinking asking someone to go along with her plan. She was disgusted as she looked at her, but at the same time she felt bad for her, because it would only be a matter of time before she realized what she let go.

"I'm not talking about if you loved him, or if he loved you, Gabriella. I'm talking about the fact that you dangled a family in front of him, and pulled it away when his time was up," Mrs. Montez said.

Gabriella's eyes widened once she heard her mom. She didn't even realize that for two weeks, Troy was actually part of a family.

"I didn't think of it like that."

"Obviously," Mrs. Montez said, "because you haven't been using your head for the past couple of weeks."

Mrs. Montez left her with that, marching towards the kitchen angrily. Gabriella sunk into the couch, holding the t-shirt that was thrown at her earlier, to her chest. She looked at the clock on the wall, knowing that in an hour, Troy would be on a plane flying away from her, and even though she wished her time with him had ended differently, she didn't regret the two weeks she spent with him.

* * *

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**unknownbyhim22**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all of the lovely reviews! I'm pretty sure most of you wanted Gabriella to run after Troy to the airport, but that's just too cliche for me. haha This chapter is kind of short, sorry about that, but Enjoy! Oh, and there's only ONE MORE chapter after this one. :( **

* * *

Pick Me Up

Chapter thirteen

Gabriella's bags were packed, but they were still sitting on her bed, waiting to be loaded into her car so that she could go home. It was a day before she was originally supposed to go back to Utah, but she didn't want to stay any longer at her childhood home.

Now she was in the kitchen, cutting up some fruit as her mom stirred meatless spaghetti sauce on the stove. Brandon was setting the table and Mr. Montez was sitting at the kitchen island, figuring out a word puzzle in the newspaper. Since her confession to her mom, Gabriella hadn't said much to anyone.

Mrs. Montez was still mad, and every time someone would say something, she'd give a sarcastic remark or reply with an angry comment. Mr. Montez had been avoiding her all day, which is why he was doing a word puzzle instead of talking.

As Gabriella tossed a diced strawberry into a glass bowl, the sound of a chime rang through the house, causing everyone to look at each other, wondering where the sound was coming from.

"What is that God awful, headache inducing sound?" Mrs. Montez asked quickly.

"Is that the phone?" Gabriella asked.

"I think it was the doorbell," Brandon said, looking surprised as he set the sets of silverware down in a pile, walking towards the front door with the rest of the family.

A package was on the front door, and on the dirt road in front of the house, a UPS truck drove away. It was most likely the table clothes that Mrs. Montez had ordered for the Forth of July party that didn't arrive in time, but no one was worried about the brown box.

The four Montezs stood on the front porch, looking at the small button next to the screen door. A note was attached to it, and Brandon plucked it off, pressing the button again, listening to the sound echo through the house before reading the note.

"It just needed some new batteries," Brandon read from the note. "Hope this helps…Troy."

Gabriella took the note from Brandon, seeing the manly handwriting on the square piece of white paper.

"I'll be darned," Mr. Montez said, ringing the doorbell again. "I never would have guessed batteries."

"Well, that's just perfect. Every time the doorbell rings we're all going to be reminded of that boy," Mrs. Montez said, walking back into the house with a huff.

Mr. Montez shook his head, patting Gabriella on her arm.

"She'll come around eventually," he said. "She was just set on having some grandchildren next summer."

Gabriella groaned as Mr. Montez went after his wife. Brandon laughed, giving his sister a side hug.

"Don't laugh, bro. You'll be the one with kids first," Gabriella said, tickling him on the side with a small laugh, leaving him alone on the porch exclaiming that she was wrong.

...

In Albuquerque little had changed since Troy got home. His lawn needed to be cut, and his mail was piled up by the front door, but other than that, everything was just how he left it. He had inherited his parent's house when he was eighteen and most people who saw him walking into the house thought he was an intruder since he was too young to be able to afford a house as big as the one he had.

The refrigerator was empty, so there wasn't anything to eat and since Troy was currently broke, he'd have to make due with the trail mix and pack of gum he got at the airport until he got his next paycheck. Of course, he wouldn't have to wait that long because Chad always sent random pizzas over to his house to make sure that he wasn't starving.

In the backyard Troy was playing basketball on his basketball court and every time he made a fast move to the hoop, the water he had chugged down after cutting the lawn moved in his stomach.

When he smelt the warm aroma of pizza in the air, he laughed to himself, surprised when he turned to see Chad walking through the gate leading into the backyard.

"What are you doing here?" Troy asked, setting the basketball on the ground.

"I got a few days off," Chad answered. "I thought since you've been gone you had no food, so I got you a pizza."

"Thanks, you can set it on the table," Troy said, walking across the lawn to his patio furniture. He sat down in the chair across from Chad, grabbing a piece of pizza before propping his feet up on the table.

"What time did you get home yesterday?" Chad asked, taking a slice of pizza for himself.

"One thirty," Troy said, looking out at his large backyard.

"How was the plane ride? Did you get stuck sitting between a baby and a fat man?" Chad asked.

Troy chuckled, ruffling his hair with his free hand so that it wasn't falling in his face. That was another thing he needed: a haircut.

"I sat in first class for the first time in my life," Troy answered. "Apparently, Gabriella has tons of frequent flyer miles and it didn't cost her a penny."

"Ah, Gabriella," Chad said with a nod, looking over at Troy who didn't respond as Chad waited for an elaboration.

When Troy didn't say anything else, Chad finally did.

"Are you going to make me ask, man, or are you going to give up the information?" Chad asked, wanting to know how his friend felt about being home.

"I don't have anything to say, to be honest with you."

"Well, how did your last couple of days go? Obviously Gabriella convinced you to forgive me, since you're talking to me now."

"She did," Troy nodded. "But now someone needs to convince her to talk to me."

"What'd you do?" Chad asked in a monotone.

"I punched her ex-boyfriend in front of her entire family at a Forth of July party," Troy said. "And then I told her that her cousin had actually been dating her ex-boyfriend while she was. She was mad."

"Well, of course she was mad, Troy," Chad said in a duh-kind-of-way. "Did she yell at you?"

Troy shrugged, looking over at the tree house that once seemed so big to him, but now as he looked up at it as a twenty six year old, it seemed small and empty.

"She told me to go home… and here I am," Troy said, gesturing towards his backyard.

"You were leaving anyways though, right?" Chad asked. "It's been two weeks."

"Yeah, but I didn't leave the way I wanted to."

Chad sighed, looking out at his friend's backyard that seemed too big for just one person.

"How'd you want to leave?" Chad asked, glancing over at Troy who shook his head at the question, not sure himself.

"I wanted to leave with her phone number in my wallet and thinking I did a good thing by going along with her plan. Instead, I left with the image of her mom teary eyed because I was leaving and a guilty conscious."

"I'm sorry, man. I wouldn't want to be in your place."

"Yeah, instead you're dating a girl you met at an airport and are happy as can be," Troy said with a small smile.

"How'd you know?" Chad asked with a smile.

"Because whenever you personally deliver a pizza, you either made another million dollars, or you met a girl. Plus, you got pepperoni, so that tells me you either bought a new car or someone laughed at a joke you told today."

"We've known each other too long," Chad laughed, putting his hands behind his head, leaning back against the patio chair.

"I agree," Troy sighed, closing the pizza box to save the rest for later.

"Do you think she's going to miss you?" Chad asked.

"Nah," Troy said with a shake of his head. "She won't miss me."

...

"Do you miss him?" Gabriella's friend asked as they jogged side by side on treadmills at the local gym.

Gabriella's friend Sharpay had just been filled in on the most recent drama of her close friend's life. Gabriella laughed as she speed up on the treadmill. She had gotten home a week ago and this was her ninth trip to the gym since then.

"Of course I do!" Gabriella said out of breath. "I've eaten three gallons of ice cream since I got home, and I've spent most of my free time watching romantic comedies while clothed in scrubs. I'm a nurse; I should know that my behavior isn't healthy!"

"You're just going through boy withdrawal, who can blame you?" Sharpay asked, jumping on the sides of the treadmill to take a break. If she started to sweat too much, she got cranky, and she knew Gabriella didn't need anything else to deal with.

"Shar, since I've been working out here this week, I've gotten hit on by three different guys. Two of them, I flicked off, the other one I tossed a sweaty towel at. That's not normal behavior."

"Maybe you're heartbroken," Sharpay said, taking a sip from her pink water bottle. "It happens to the best of us."

"No, I promised myself a long time ago that I wouldn't let another person break my heart."

"So maybe it happened without your knowledge, I don't know, Gabs, all I can say is that the last time I ate ice cream was when a tree fell on my pink convertible."

Gabriella looked over at Sharpay, who had already given up on her jog.

"You were pretty upset," Gabriella said, remembering. "But you weren't heartbroken."

"Are you kidding me? That car was my first love!" Sharpay said. "Just listen to me for once, okay? When you went to your parents' house, you had your heart blocked from Kyle so that he wouldn't hurt you again."

"And…"

"And the last time I checked, you were on a two week vacation with a guy named Troy."

Gabriella jumped onto the side of the treadmill, pressing the off button as she wiped her forehead with the back of her arm. She looked over at Sharpay, who was looking at Gabriella with a knowing smile.

"And you think that because I was worrying so much about not falling for Kyle again, I fell in love with Troy instead?"

"Honestly, I wasn't thinking anything, I was just hoping you'd come up with something good," Sharpay said with a soft laugh, shrugging. "And it looks like you did."

Gabriella huffed, shaking her head as she leaned on the treadmill. Sharpay looked pleased with her conversation skills and stepped off of her treadmill, leaving Gabriella to think about what she had just said.

As Gabriella watched Sharpay bounce happily towards the locker room, her treadmill was being taken over by a muscular guy with glasses that made him look like Superman.

"Hey," he said, lifting his chin up briefly, giving her a friendly nod.

Gabriella groaned, jumping off of the treadmill quickly to find her blonde, but wise friend.

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**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello, hello! I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to update today because fanfiction wasn't working this week! But I am, woo! I'm sad to see this story ending, but there won't be a sequel. I like this story too much to ruin it with one that isn't as good. Thank you all so much for reviewing and reading this story. All of you make me want to write more and more stories!**

**Speaking of more stories: I hope to have a new one up soon. I'm in the middle of writing one, but applying for college and surviving my senior year is my top priority right now. That doesn't mean I'm not writing though- I write everyday, just not as much! I hope to finish my next story by Christmas, maybe after that, so I'll be updating whenever I finish writing it. **

**Thanks again to all of you who review and read my stories! I heart you. Enjoy!**

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Pick Me Up

Chapter fourteen

Gabriella picked at a purple flower that she plucked from the flower pot that was sitting next to her. She was sitting on her parent's front porch, listening to the sound of summer. She was already back home after only being in Utah for three weeks when she went back after the Forth of July party.

The local hospital in Tennessee was short nurses, which brought her back to work. She was staying in her parent's house, after her dad insisted that she wouldn't be a bother to them. Brandon was back to work after his two week vacation and was rarely at home, leaving her alone most of the time when she wasn't working.

Staying at her parent's house wasn't exactly the most ideal situation. She would have much rather been living by her own rules, but instead she had chores to do and had to check in with her parent when she came to and from work.

But what was killing her the most living in this particular house was the memories that she had of Troy being with her in the house. Whenever the doorbell rang, she'd hear her mom sigh and march to the door, and then she'd have to go through the on going argument she was having with her mother about Troy.

Whenever the phone rang, she hoped it would be Troy, but remembered that she never gave him her phone number. Whenever she saw Serena or Kyle, she thought of the conversation she had with Troy at the bottom of the stairs the night of the Forth of July party. Everything reminded her of him. Even the town did. The diner that she used to visit regularly had Troy's picture pinned up on the wall, so she stopped visiting that place too.

Now as she sat on the porch, she knew she made a mistake by not asking Troy to stay… or by not telling him that he meant something to her- that he changed her life after agreeing to stay with her for two weeks.

Tired of looking out at the motionless front yard, Gabriella stood up, tossing the crumbled flower from her hand. She pulled open the screen door and stepped into her house, sighing when she noticed that inside was just as quiet as it was outside. She had the house to herself since her parents had left earlier that morning to visit some friends and since her brother was at work.

There was a knock on the glass window by the door when Gabriella was halfway down the foyer hallway that led to the kitchen. When she turned, wondering if the person saw her in the house, and that was the reason they didn't use the doorbell, she was surprised.

Troy stood on the porch with a fresh hair cut and a smile. She felt a happy squeal make its way up her throat, but she never let it escape as she walked quickly towards the door, opening it.

"What…" Gabriella didn't know what to say and trailed off when Troy held up the flower she had tossed to the ground.

"What did you land on, he loves me, or he loves me not?" He asked with a smile, moving aside when she stepped onto the front porch, letting the screen door close with a bang behind her.

Gabriella's mouth opened to respond, but she only let out a laugh, blushing with embarrassment as she looked at the petal less stem. Troy spun it between his fingers and looked at it, looking up after another few seconds of hearing nothing from Gabriella.

"Look, if you're still mad at me, I don't have to stay."

"I'm not mad at you," Gabriella shook her head quickly, grabbing his hand to stop him when he took a step backwards. She felt the flower's stem against her palm as she looked at him, seeing him smiling again. "I wasn't mad at you."

"I'm happy to hear that," Troy said.

"What are you doing here?" Gabriella asked, keeping his hand in hers. A car drove quietly down the dirt road in the front of her house, but the two of them barely noticed it as they looked at each other, wondering exactly what they were going to say.

"I got this in the mail," Troy said, pulling out a piece of paper from his back pocket with his free hand. Gabriella raised her eyebrows when she saw the wedding invitation that had a familiar female's name on it, one who just so happened to live in Maine. "And I need a pick me up."

"So you came all the way over here?" Gabriella asked smiling as Troy crumpled the white paper with his hand, shoving it back in his pocket.

"I figured I needed to come here to tell you thank you," Troy explained.

"For what?" Gabriella asked, giving him a confused look.

"For making receiving this invitation a lot easier to handle."

"How'd I do that?" Gabriella smiled, taking a step closer to Troy, who took the petal less stem and stuck it on the top of Gabriella's ear so that it rested there, against her dark hair. She laughed, wondering how it looked.

"Well, if I go to the wedding, I now have a real fake girlfriend to talk about," Troy explained with a smile.

"I think you should make up some crazy story about why you can't go to the wedding," Gabriella said, smirking as she went on. "Maybe you can say you're on a safari."

"Ooh or maybe I can tell her I fell off of the side of a random cliff and only survived with nine fingers left and a short term memory," Troy brainstormed, laughing as Gabriella did, both of them shaking their heads.

"Or maybe you can say you're taken and that you'd rather not waste your time," Gabriella suggested.

"That sounds like the most realistic excuse," Troy replied, stepping closer to Gabriella. "But there's just one thing that's not completely true about that statement."

"Really?" Gabriella asked, raising herself up on her tip toes so that she was closer to Troy.

"Yeah. I'm not taken just yet."

Gabriella smiled, leaning the rest of the way towards Troy so that she could kiss him. Troy wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him as he kissed her back. They separated briefly, smiling at each other as Troy pulled the stem from Gabriella's hair that he put there moments before.

"So, tell me again what you landed on."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, taking the stem from his hand so that he wasn't distracted by the plant.

"Take a guess," Gabriella said. "After all, it is kind of up to you."

"Hmmm, I'd have to say he loves you."

Troy smiled at Gabriella, hearing her laugh quietly. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him again and he picked her up so that she didn't have to stand on her tip toes.

They stayed on the porch, laughing, talking, and kissing as they started a new relationship. This time, it wasn't fake and it didn't have to be hidden from the world. This time, they were ready for a lifetime of pick me ups and a million more moments on the porch where they first started their relationship, weeks ago holding hands in the rain.

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**unknownbyhim22**


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